Good Enough
by The High-Fives For Nothing
Summary: Max and Fang are best friends, but Max likes him as a more-than-friend. She's sure that she's going to take the chance when perfect Brigid comes along and steals everything away from her. Oh, God. Now everything's screwed up, too! Full summary inside. Co-written with Ravenclaw Wings. I swear, it isn't as terrible and/or cliche as you think it's going to be. XD
1. Chapter 1

**HFFN: This is the first fanfic Emily and I have co-written, so I hope it's good! **

**RW: We don't own MR, for yo' information! :)**

**FULL SUMMARY:  
>Max and Fang have been best friends since they were five when Fang moved into town. They've been fine in each others presence until new emotions start rising on both their parts and things become awkward. Max is sure that she's going to take the chance when...perfect, amazing, beautiful Brigid comes along and steals everything she's ever loved away from her. She's nothing like Brigid, but could Max possibly, just possibly, be good enough?<br>**

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><p><em>"Maxine, can you come down here for a moment?" Dr. Martinez called from the kitchen. The five-year-old Max Martinez ran down from the back bedroom where she'd been playing with her dolls into the kitchen. Her mother was just taking out a batch of cookies from the oven when she entered. Max's brown eyes lit up when she saw the chocolate chip cookies.<em>

"_The Walker's just moved into the neighborhood a couple of weeks ago. They have two boys about your age, twins, I heard. Why don't we go over and welcome them to the neighborhood?" Max nodded eagerly and Dr. Martinez chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Okay, just let me wrap up these cookies and you go get ready, okay, sweetie?" _

_Max skipped back to her bedroom to change out of her jeans and t-shirt. _

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><p><em>Dr. Martinez was just about to press the doorbell, when little Max all of the sudden yelled, "WAIT! I wanna ring it!" and started jumping up and down. "Please, Mommy?" She gave her mother puppy dog eyes, and her mother smiled, letting her. <em>

_After a moment, she saw a black-haired boy peek through the window and then disappear. A second later, he opened the door for them. Max, all of the sudden shy, hid slightly behind her mother's legs, blushing. _

_Dr. Martinez smiled at him. "Um, hello. Is your mom home?" He nodded not looking at either of them. "MOM!" he yelled, running out of their line of sight and apparently to get his mother. _

_A woman with equally as dark hair walked in from the living room with him in tow. _

"_Hi, you must be Mrs. Walker," Dr. M greeted, smiling genuinely at the woman. The woman smiled back, nodded, and they shook hands. "I'm Valencia Martinez," she said, taking hold of Max's hand instead of just putting it back to her side. "This is my daughter, Maxine." She pulled Max from behind her long enough so that Max could smile shyly and blush again. _

"_Hi, Valencia, I'm Jane and this is my son, Nicholas," and Nicholas in turn smiled slightly at them, but didn't step forward or say anything. Jane gave her son's hand a gentle squeeze, and though it wasn't much, it was enough to make him relax some. _

"_Well," Dr. M started, "we just came to welcome you all to the neighborhood." Ended with another genuine smile. She held out the container of chocolate chip cookies for her to take and Jane did, smiling thankfully at her. "Oh, why, thank you, but you really didn't need to do that." _

_Dr. M waved it off with a flick of her hand. "Oh, it was no problem at all." _

_Jane ushered them into the house and led them in to the living room. "My other son, James—he's Nick's twin—is at the store with my husband Thomas. They should be home pretty soon." _

_The two mothers talked up a storm while Max and Nick stood in uncomfortable silence, neither sure what to say. After a moment, the adults finally realized how the kids weren't saying anything. _

"_Nicholas," Jane said, "why don't you and Maxine go play somewhere, hmm?" He looked up at her like, "Do I _have_ to?" _

_"You can show her the tree house…" she told him in a singsong voice, trying to persuade him. He nodded mutely and gestured for Max to follow him._

_She did so after a moment, staring at him through a thick, auburn curtain of hair. She followed him out through the patio door and to the backyard. _

_The backyard wasn't big but it was big enough, kind of like the house. Trees lined the very back, and there was a fairly large one where the dark wood tree house was built in. A ladder went up to the opening in the middle of the floor of the house. There were two windows; one facing the house and the other was on the opposite side. A door came up on something that looked like a wrap-around porch and Max wondered why that would be needed. _

_Nicholas climbed up the ladder and into the tree house while Max remained staring at it. "Have you ever been in a tree house?" he asked her, looking down at her awed expression from the opening, just sitting on the top step. She shook her head, brown curls bouncing around her shoulders. "Nah, but I know a girl who has one and she talks about it all of the time," she answered, starting up the ladder. _

_Nick nodded at her, retreating up further into the house. Once she was up, Max saw that the inside was filled with books, boxes full of crayons and other assortments, a table with four chairs, and some board games. Nick went and sat at the table. Max sat across from him. "When we still lived in California, we had a tree house _just_ like this one, so my dad built this for me as _soon_ as we got here." He smiled slightly at her and she beamed back, two holes where her front teeth should've been. _

"_Was the one at your old home gooder than this one?" she asked, fiddling with a red crayon that sat on the table in front of her. He thought for a moment, biting his lip. "Yeah it was but I like this one a lot anyway." He smiled again. "Do you want to play a game?" She nodded eagerly at him, happy to do something really fun. _

_They climbed out of the tree house and she shouted, "TAG! YOU'RE IT!" suddenly, poking Nick on the shoulder. She ran away giggling while he chased after her, laughing along with Max. Though Max was pretty fast, she got tired from laughing so hard while still trying to get away from him. She glanced behind her to see he was right there and yelped as he poked at her back. "YOU'RE IT!" _

_This went on for a while before a car pulled up into the driveway. They were both very tired but kept on playing, completely ignoring the car. They didn't stop giggling until Jane slid the patio door open and told them, "Dinner's ready!" Immediately, they both bolted into the house and into the dining room. "Don't forget to wash your hands!" Dr. M reminded them and they both groaned, going to the sink. _

_A boy with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes that couldn't be any younger than them walked into the dining room, a man with blue eyes and brown hair walking behind him. "Oh, Val, this is my husband Thomas and my other son, James," Jane introduced, waving to them in turn even though Dr. M could've been able to tell without it. She smiled at them and Jane said, directed at her husband, "This is Valencia Martinez and her daughter, Maxine. They live two houses down and wanted to welcome us to the neighborhood." Thomas smiled at Dr. M and glanced at Nick and Max who where just finishing washing their hands. "Who's that?" Max whispered to Nick. He whispered back, "my daddy and my brother James." Max was about to say something when—_

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><p><strong>BRRRIINNNNG!<strong>

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><p>"Alright, class, time is up. Make sure to turn in your work when you leave," the teacher, Ms. Elburn, called, dismissing us for the next class. I sighed in disappointed. I hadn't finished my assignment!<p>

I picked up my messenger bag, slung it over my shoulder, and examined my work. It wasn't complete and was really just a rough draft. If I had maybe a day or two more to work on it, it could be so much better and then maybe I could actually finish it. I sighed again and just scribbled a little note at the bottom, saying, sorry that it isn't done. Ms. Elburn was my favorite teacher by far and she never expected me to finish the writing assignments she gives to us for just one class, but I still apologized nonetheless. I was probably the only one who didn't finish the "just for class" assignments because when it comes to writing, I couldn't just make it short. There always had to be a reason. Most teenagers didn't care about the assignments, but I always put my all into writing. I wasn't sure why. Maybe because it's really the only thing I excel in?

I felt someone behind me and I didn't even have to look to know whom it was. Only one person could be so quiet as to where I'd need to feel them. "Oh, hey, Fang," I greeted, frowning slightly at the paper and erasing an h that looked like an n, then replacing it with a more comprehendible h. He was wearing his usual attire: all black. And before you go on thinking that he was emo, he wasn't. He just wore black a lot. "Let me guess—you didn't finish," Fang said, coming to look at it. I ignored his comment but focused on the fact he was trying to read my paper. "Oh, no you don't. I'm not showing this to you until I'm done with it," I told him, hiding the paper behind my back and walking towards the door. I quickly slipped it onto the teacher's desk while walking past and Ms. Elburn gave me a knowing look. I smiled back at her. "Bye, Ms. Elburn," I said, halfway out the door. "Bye, Max, Nick," she called back.

That assignment was to write one of your favorite memories. (I know that's a weird writing prompt to do, but Ms. Elburn is a pretty cool teacher.) And yes, little Nicholas was Fang, and little Maxine was I when we were five years old. And James was Iggy, Fang's twin, as you already know. That was the day that I first met Fang, who was my best friend. We had been since that day and we always would be.

"Hey, Maxi!" A hand waved in front of my face, bringing me back out of my thoughts. I snapped my head to look at Fang, who was walking on my right. "What?"

He shrugged. "What were you thinking about?"

I grinned at him. "Nosy, much?" I teased, but answered anyway. "Just what I did for the writing prompt." Now it was his turn to grin at me. "And what did you write about?"

I felt my cheeks heat up even though they had no good reason to. "Oh…nothing."

We arrived at my locker and I pulled everything I would need for Math out of the clutter, stuffing everything else in. Fang closed the locker door for me and thankfully his locker was only seven down from mine. The bad part was that he had Science next instead of Math. "Oh," I said, "and don't call me Maxi."

After Math was lunch (thank God!). Naturally, I sat with my friends Nudge, Ella, Iggy, and Fang. Yes, I do realize we have very strange nicknames. Nudge's real name is Monique, and you know Iggy's and Fang's. Iggy and Fang are fraternal twins while Ella was adopted into Nudge's family when they were three.

"So, what up, my peeps?" I greeted, sliding into the chair between Fang and Ella. Fang half-smiled at me while Ella beamed. And if you're confused, Ella beaming at me was a rare occasion. "Someone had a good day," I muttered, giving Ella a weird look but then smiling in return. "Oh, I'm just happy," she told me, shoveling some macaroni into her mouth. I gave Fang a questioning look but he just shrugged and smirked.

"Oh my gosh Max I love your outfit today I mean you look so great I don't understand why you don't wear things like that more often I mean you look super fantastical and you could have any guy in the school if you dressed up a little more! It's just that you're already pretty but no one can see it if you hide your natural beauty in baggy clothes and stuff! You have really pretty hair though gosh I wish I had your hair color it's just such a pretty brown and there's a little bit of very dark red highlights in it and I'm really glad that Ella and I decided to put those in your hair when we gave you that makeover a while ago and—" Nudge was cut off, though, by Ella slapping her hand over her mouth, which always stopped her, and saying, "Nudge, I swear, if you don't shut up I will duct tape your mouth shout for a whole day." That got her to stop, all right. I smiled at their banter and shoved a French fry into my mouth. We called her the Nudge Channel: All Nudge, All the Time. That girl can start and go on and on for hours!

Fang and I started chatting, oblivious to everyone else like normal. He said something about a new kid, pointing to a boy with brown hair and brown eyes sitting a couple of tables away from us. While I was distracted, he snuck a French fry off of my plate.

"Hey!" I protested, hitting him upside the head. He just snickered and continued eating. I glared at him, something that would make any sane person cringe, but his expressionless mask didn't even waver. "You have your own French fries," I pointed out. "Why take mine?"

He rolled his eyes at me, biting into his food. "Because I'll run out that way." I shook my head at him and pretended to be mad, fake pouting and turning away. I saw him grin out of the corner of my eye.

"Hey, Max?" he asked and I spun back around in my chair to face him.

"Hey, Fang?" I answered, copying him. He opened his mouth to say something, but, of course, Nudge started talking.

"Ooooh! The dance is coming up you two should go together it would be soooo cute you two are adorable I wanted to go with Sam but he'll never ask me and Ella and Iggy should go together hey why am I the only unpaired one—" but Iggy saved the day by slapping a hand over her mouth while his cheeks bloomed a scarlet red. He pulled his hand away though, probably afraid that she'd lick it.

"Maybe no one's asked you because you talk too much," A high voice said. I looked above Nudge's head to spot Lissa, the red-haired, green-eyed beauty that everyone seemed to like so much.

I'm not going to lie to you and say that Lissa was ugly and completely fake and acted like she was beautiful even when she wasn't. Because, truth be told, she _was _pretty. Extremely pretty, actually. And she had the thousands of boyfriends and modeling job to prove it. I bet she would've looked fantastic without the makeup and skimpy clothes and crap like that. Maybe that's why everyone in the school liked her so much. Or maybe it was because she "had the voice of an angel" like everyone always said.

Oh, but don't let that fool you. She was most certainly _not _an angel off the stage.

I wasn't quite sure why everyone wanted to be her friend. She was a witch and backstabbed every single one of her friends, never even apologizing, but rather, just thinking things could go back to normal simple because she was _she, _and everyone _loved _her, right?

Wrong.

All of that beauty of hers had gone to her head. The thing is: we used to be friends, when we were little. But then…there came guys. And that was the end of the nice, actually dependable Lissa, gone in a flash, and was replaced with…_that. _I started hating her somewhere around then.

Now that I'm done ranting about Lissa, I'll get on with the story.

She started doing that weird thing where girls will twirl their hair around their finger in an attempt to flirt, staring straight at Fang. "Hi, Fang," she said flirtatiously. (When did she _not _do anything flirtatious around Fang?)

Fang, being…Fang, only glanced at her, still as emotionless as ever, and just nodded. This seemed to satisfy her though, and she smirked. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. She looked at me smugly and I raised an eyebrow at her in question. "Why are you still here? Leave," I told her, make a gesture to say, "shoo, shoo!"

She gaped at me for a second, and then flipped her red-ish-brown ponytail over her shoulder. "Whatever. I didn't even_ want _to stay here near _you _anyway_. _I might catch something." I scoffed, rolled my eyes again, and Lissa walked off holding her head high and sticking her nose in the air. "Priss," I muttered under my breath. I saw Iggy smirk.

The weirdest thing about Iggy—and trust me, there was a lot—was that he could hear a penny drop from a mile away. It was actually kind of creepy at times…

Nudge looked down at her tray sadly. "I talk too much, huh?" she asked.

"Well… sort of…" I said. Ella continued what I left hanging. "And we don't care that you do, because if you didn't talk so much, you wouldn't be Nudge." Would an "aww!" be in order? Yes. Yes it would.

"So, Max. As I was saying," Fang gave a glance at Nudge that said, _yes you_, "Wanna come to my house after school to shoot some hoops?"

I nodded, smiled, and then looked at him like he was crazy_. _"I live two doors down from you, Fangles. And I come over almost every day." He shrugged anyways. I rolled my eyes playfully at him and he grinned like only he could, bumping his shoulder lightly against mine. I bumped his shoulder back, which snowballed into a mini-war.

Once we were done and I caught my breath, I asked, "Why can't you just say 'come over after school to _play some basketball'_?" He shrugged again.

Iggy answered me instead. "Because it sounds more manly." I gave him a look. "You," I said, pointing at him, "are crazy. It does not sound _manly—_it's just pointless." Thus starting the argument between all of us on whether or not it sounds manly. (Ella, Nudge, and I were on the same side, just in case you were wondering. Oh, and we totally won.)

After lunch, I had Science while Fang had Math. Yes, it aggravated us to death that if we had just had that switched around then we would've had one more period of slightly less torturous learning.

Lissa pranced up to Fang and put on a smile (another flirtatious one. Ugh), batting her eyelashes at him in an attempt to…I didn't even know, honestly.

She then looked like she had just then noticed I was standing right next to Fang, glaring at me. She took a step toward me as if to challenge me to something, stomping her white high heels against the tile floor, inches away from my foot. I raised an eyebrow at her once more, just like in the cafeteria, and slammed my locker door closed with a lot more force then needed.

"So… Fang," she started, back to that stupid method of twirling her hair around her finger. "About the dance, the Halloween Dance? You wanna… go with me?" she asked, taking one glance at me, then bringing her eyes back to Fang.

"Nah, I think I'm going with friends," he said. Go Fang! I grinned smugly, tucking some hair behind my ear. Fang glanced at me and nudged my foot with his, catching my attention. Lissa glared at me, but all of her true colors were gone the moment she turned back to our dearest emo boy over here. "Well, call me if you ever decide you want to go with someone who's actually _attractive _for once." I knew that the last part about not being pretty was directed at me, but I just waved it off, not thinking anything about it. Why should I _ever _listen to Lissa? Everything that came out of her mouth was just gossip, threats, or lies. Unless, of course, we were in class, which is where she always liked to show off that she got straight A's and knew the answer to everything.

Fang nodded, still using that mask. It made me even more smug, thinking that I don't have to look at that side of impassive Fang all the time like everyone else did, and that he only took it down for me and select others. "I'll…um…take you up on that," he answered her, taking my hand and quickly dragging me in the general directions of our classes.

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><p>When we got off the bus, I just hopped off with him instead of getting off at my house. The bus driver, Mr. Al knew that I stayed at his place a lot and he liked us surprisingly, unlike most teachers. He was one of the cool staff members at our school, along with Ms. Elburn, the nurse Mrs. Amy, and Mr. Marten, my History teacher.<p>

"Have a good weekend, Max, Nick," he told us as we made our ways down the steps. "You too," we called back in unison. We didn't bother going inside because Mrs. Walker stayed home all day anyways, and she'd have looked out the window around right now to see if he/we had gotten home. I wasn't sure where Iggy scampered off to, or why he wasn't on the bus, but he probably just went to one of his other friend's houses.

We sat out in the front yard, sprawled out on the grass, all of our homework splayed out around us. Though doing homework is usually torturous, many, many snarky and sarcastic comments and joking conversation between the two of us helped me get through it. But just barely.

"So…about that dance," Fang started, setting his pencil down on his open Science textbook, looking unsure of himself. "What about it?" I answered back, taking down my messed up ponytail and throwing it back into another one, obviously neater than the last. I took a swig of my water bottle and he scribbled something off of his paper furiously.

I glanced over at him and saw that he looked nervous for a moment, but then put that away so it wasn't visible to most people…except Iggy and me. To everyone but us, he'd just be completely impassive, but we'd known him long enough to be able to tell what he was really feeling. "Everyone's been making a pretty big deal out of it," he stated and I nodded, wondering where the heck this was going to go.

"Do you think you'd want to…" he paused for a moment and I took another sip of water. "Want to…?" I offered, trying to get him to just spit it out already. "Want to go with me?"

I blinked twice, surprise clear in my expression and voice. "To the dance?"

He nodded, and it was obvious now that he was nervous, to anyone. "To the dance," he confirmed.

"Of course I will!" He looked kind of shocked at my answer. "You will?" I nodded, giving him a look resembling the one I gave him earlier, except this one intended to say, _you're such an idiot sometimes. _"Why wouldn't I?" The corners of his lip came up slightly, in a half-smile, making my heart thud oddly in my chest, but then I blinked and it was gone. I then found myself wishing he hadn't stopped for some strange reason, actually _liking _that weird reaction that I had whenever he did something along those lines. "You're my best friend, Fangles, I'm not just going to say _no," _I finished, smiling at him.

Then that stupid mask went back on, making me frown and my eyebrows furrow.

"Oh, um, yeah," he said lamely. I stared at my binder, not looking at his eyes.

I glanced at his binder that had doodles covering it and saw one of a group of people with wings. For some reason, that's something that he always liked to draw. There was a girl and two boys who looked to be around our age (fourteen). They seemed to be based off of…you know, us.

The fourteen-year-old girl looked sort of like…well, me, except she seemed to have this aura that she was extremely pretty, if that makes any sense at all. She looked stronger and faster and…just flat-out better than what I actually am, like she wasn't human. I guess she _wasn't _human since she had dark wings spreading from her back. The other two boys looked like Iggy and Fang, oddly enough, but like the Max II, _better. _Fang II's wings were even dark than mine and Iggy II's were simply just not colored in at all, meaning his were probably supposed to be pure white.

"I suspect Iggy and Ella will be going together, don't you?" I tried in an attempt to change the subject. He nodded slightly. "Yeah, I guess they will."

"Isn't it annoying how it's so _obvious _to everyone but them that they like each other?" I said. "And they're just way too stubborn to admit it—well, actually, I think Ella _has _admitted it, but…I'm not so sure about Iggy."

He opened his mouth to reply, but then his mother poked her head out of the door, said, "Dinner's ready, come on in and get washed up," and disappeared back into the house. We stuffed our homework and things back into our backpacks. We weren't completely done with everything, but it would be dark by the time that everyone had finished dinner, so we decided to finish it in his room. After all, it was already six and the sun went down at seven since it was October. I sort of lost track of time while we were talking earlier, before everything got all awkward and crap. But I guess the saying is true: time flies when you're having fun.

It struck me that we never actually did play basketball, but I didn't worry about. I wasn't the best at basketball anyways and Fang would whoop my butt, even if I would never admit it. (Tell him I said that and die.)

Angel and Gazzy, Fang's siblings, were already at the dinner table along with Mr. and Mrs. Walker, probably waiting on us. Fang went to the hallway bathroom to wash his hands while I just used the sink.

"Hi, Max!" Angel's bubbly voice said and I glanced at her before smiling. Angel looked like, well, an angel. She had the blonde hair in little ringlets around her face, sparkling blue eyes, and the cutest little face I'd ever seen, especially since she was only six. Gazzy was two years older than her, eight, and they looked exactly alike. Personality wise, they weren't very similar, though. They were both sweet, don't get me wrong or anything, but Angel could be sort of devious and controlling when she wanted. Gazzy was mischievous and basically just a miniature Iggy. I mean, come on, he even had the spiked up hair and everything! Oh, and, yes, there was a reason we called him Gazzy, which was short for the Gasman. Pray you never live to experience it.

"Hi, Angie girl, hi Gasman," I greeted, turning of the sink faucet and shaking my hands around before grabbing a paper towel and drying them off with that. And enter Fang.

Once Fang and I settled down in two chairs next to each other, we all prayed before digging in. Fang's parents were super religious, where as my mother wasn't really, but I'd gotten used to it, since going to his house every other night for nine years does that to you.

Dinner was fairly average, just having a pretty normal chatter going on. I could tell Fang was still…upset about something but I couldn't figure out what.

Dinner was over quicker than I thought it would be, and by six thirty-ish everyone was finished and we went to his room to get all of our dreaded homework done. He still wasn't saying anything and he'd had that stupid, infuriating mask on that I hated so freaking much. Finally, I couldn't stand the constant silence and uncomfortable atmosphere. I sighed. We were best friends and it was hardly ever like this, so why now? We should've been completely comfortable in each other's presence! Why weren't we?

"Fang," I started, seating my pencil down on my open notebook and putting my hand on top of his pencil, making him stop that annoying tapping. I was vividly aware how my skin felt all tingly where I touched his hand, but I tried to ignore it, focusing on his face instead. "What's the matter?" He looked down from me again, freeing his hand from underneath mine and scribbling something again on his sheet and then shifting slightly on his bed. I was sitting with my bare feet tucked underneath me, facing him, while he sat cross-legged. "It's nothing," I heard him mutter almost inaudibly, and that seemed to annoy me more than ever. "Seriously, what's wrong?"

He didn't answer and just went right back to tapping.

Okay, fine. I didn't want it to have to go to this, but he left me no choice.

"Nicholas Anthony Walker," I said suddenly, slapping my hand against his to stop that maddening tapping noise. My expression and tone was stern and I felt like I was his mom, strangely enough. He stopped what he was doing and stared at me, looking very taken aback. I never said anything like that unless I was _extremely _unhappy with him. And yes, I know that that last statement made it sound even more like I was his mother. "You need to tell me what's wrong _right now_," I demanded, standing on my knees so that my arms were keeping me balanced, and leaning forward so I was closer to his face. I kept my eyes on his while I tried to just concentrate on the matter at hand, not our proximity or the fact that he had _really _pretty dark eyes.

He looked kind of frightened before putting that away like he did earlier, but not far away enough to where I couldn't see it. "I swear, Max, it's nothing significant."

My expression softened for a moment. He really wasn't going to tell me, was he? Usually he told me right away whenever I did that, but apparently not this time. Something was seriously wrong with my best friend, and I couldn't figure out what.

I tried a different tactic. I sat back on my heels and kept eye contact with him. He looked kind of like he regretted something, but that was all gone the moment he realized that I had noticed. I did the best Bambi eyes I could, the way that Nudge, Ella, and Angel do to people to get said people to do stuff for them. I wasn't sure they were working, though, since he still stayed quite. Or maybe I just completely failed at doing them. Either way it wasn't working out very well for me.

"Fang," I pleaded, my voice sounding broken now. Yes, _the _Maximum Ride, _pleaded. _Because stupid _Fang _wouldn't freaking tell me what was bothering him. "Come on, we're best friends. It's in the besties' rule book that we have to tell each other _everything_," I stated, still giving him the Bambi eyes. He didn't answer me, not looking me in the eyes. I didn't say anything for a moment and obviously, neither did he. "Please?" I tried once more, on the verge of begging. "You can trust me and you know that. You've known that for a while. If you didn't, we wouldn't be friends, right?" I attempted at a small smile and he gave a weak one back and he spoke up after a moment. "Can we just…not talk about this right now?" he asked, finally freaking looking at me. I sighed in disappointment, but I obliged anyway. I fell back on my feet instead of my heels, but for the most part I stayed where I was, playing with the shark tooth necklace that hung around his neck. His dad had gotten that for him when he was seven and I knew that it meant the world to him. He was usually not attached to inanimate objects, but this was different somehow. I fingered it in my hand, turning it over and over again. I saw him looking at me and when I met his eyes, he raised an eyebrow at me. I shrugged and continued to fiddle with it, having not taken his hint for me to stop. He smirked and grabbed my hands, making me stop and have to drop the tooth back onto his chest. "Can't you stop being annoying for one moment?" he breathed in my ear. I involuntarily shivered and saw him smirk again. "I am not annoying," I grumbled, defending myself, still trying not to think about…well, him. Or, at least, the amazingly hot side of him.

…

WAIT! HOLD UP THERE! DID I JUST CALL FANG HOT? EVEN IN MY OWN MIND? WHAT THE CRAP! HE'S LIKE MY FRIGGING BROTHER THAT I NEVER HAD! WHERE THE HECK DID _THAT_ COME FROM?

Once I'd stopped having a miniature spazz attack in my head, I noticed that he was still holding my hands and he entwined our fingers. My cheeks turned a light shade of pink without my permission at this but I didn't do anything about it, except hope that he didn't notice. If he did, he didn't show it, because when he looked at me, all he did was grin and went back to writing down answers, switching so that he was holding my hand with his left hand instead. I just sat there for a moment, not really doing anything. I peeked over at what he was scribbling down. To anyone but his friends, family, and the teachers, the words he scrawled down weren't even words, but I had read enough of his writing to know what he meant. And yes, Fang was a writing geek as well, and I'm proud to say that I got him started on that when we were nine or ten. He wasn't as obsessed as me, but he was still pretty fantastic. He could write short things and it was fine which I was always jealous of him for, since it meant that I never finished a writing prompt for school.

Anyways, he was jotting down something that I noted didn't seem to be homework, but rather, a story. "What's this?" I asked him curiously. He grinned. "Curiosity killed the Max," he taunted, but I ignored him and picked up the sheet when he lifted his hand from the paper. "Seriously, what is it?" I questioned again. All I got to read was, _You'd think that by now I would be used to it happening over and over again, but I can't seem to quite—_before he yanked it out of my hand and stuffed it in his binder. He hastily threw his binder in his black bag. I pouted, crossing my arms, since he had let go of my hand when he took the sheet from me. "Why'd you do that?" I whined, sounding like a little kid.

He smirked. "Because you aren't allowed to see it until it's done," he answered me. I glared at him. "Jerk," I muttered.

He shrugged, not offended in the slightest. "You're doing the same to me. It's payback."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. But at least tell me what it's about," I demanded, shifting my position once more so that I was lying on my stomach, but could still see Fang. I propped my elbows up and put my chin in my hands. "No, you wouldn't tell me what yours was about, I'm not telling you about mine," he stated. My face fell and I groaned. "You're being so unfair!" I complained, rolling onto my back and onto some paper and pencils, hurting me, but I didn't do anything about it.

We kept doing homework for another ten or so minutes before I abruptly declared, "This is boring. We're watching a movie now." He raised an eyebrow at me. "What movie?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. You pick."

He got up from the bed, going over to that small cabinet thing that the TV was perched on top of. Yes, Fang had a TV in his room and we always slept in his room when it was just he and I (NOT LIKE THAT, YOU PERVERTED READERS) since his room was pretty cool and he had a king sized bed. It would've been awkward if we weren't best friends. Another reason I loved being his best friend.

I heard him rustling through all of the DVDS, but I couldn't see him because of the angle I was lying at and I really didn't want to move. He closed the cabinet-thing door, having apparently found a good movie for us to watch that we haven't seen a bazillion times already.

"What'd ya pick?" I asked, staying where I was, but craning my neck some so that I could just see him. He shook his head at me and answered, "It's a surprise."

I scooted up so that my head was dangling off the edge of the bed and I could see the TV, but did have to move a lot, and he came to sit next to me. I fiddled with my hands for a moment while we watched the previews. I couldn't tell from the previews what movie it was, so I just didn't watch.

Once the actual thing came on, I stared at Fang. "No. Way." If you think I said that out of disbelief, you are correct. If you think I mean that in a _good _way, you are mistaken.

"Nuh uh. We are _not _watching this movie," I said sternly. He grinned at me. "How come?"

"It's terrible!"

He shrugged.

"…Okay, so maybe it isn't _terrible, _movie wise, but book wise? No! It's like they just made their own characters and plot line and gave it the same name!"

Another shrug.

"…Percy isn't, actually. He's pretty attractive, therefore it's okay. Grover is awesome in this movie, even if that's not how Grover is supposed to act, but Annabeth? No way! And it's not even just her hair that bothers me!"

If you haven't noticed yet, we were watching _Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. _ I read the whole series and was excited when the movie came out. Iggy, Nudge, Fang, and I had all read it, actually, so I dragged them with me to the movie. It was really rather disappointing when we saw it and it was almost completely changed. Ella had just started the first book when it came out, so she couldn't go.

"I refuse to watch this."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do."

"No."

"Can't we just watch Harry Potter or something?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"I'll be your best friend!"

"You already are."

"Come on, please?"  
>"Not a chance."<p>

"You suck."

"I know."

"If you don't, I tell Iggy what happened last summer…"

He paused for a second, looking at me skeptically. "You wouldn't."

"Oh, but you know I would."

"…Fine—"

"Yay!"

"—But then I can tell Ella what you did after that…"

I glared at him. "…Okay, you win. I'll watch the stupid movie. Last time I let you pick what we watch…"

Sometime in-between the movie, we realized that we didn't make popcorn, so Fang had to pause it and then go and make some. I offered to do it, but he said that I might burn the house down if I tried, so I decided to just not bother with trying. Besides, less moving for me!

It's ten o'clock by the time the movie ends and we still aren't tired, so we put on another one, but this time I choose it. Instead of watching it, though, we just talk through the whole thing, just using the TV as background music. Fang seemed to have completely forgotten about whatever it was that was bothering him, which I was thankful for, and he was chuckling right on with me. And no, Fang never _laughed. _He _chuckled, _while I laughed. But that's just Fang for you.

He seemed to have noticed that I was getting kind of tired, because he plopped a pillow on his lap and patted it. I laid my head there, staring at the TV, and it was sort of hard to understand what was going on because it was sideways. I didn't mind, though, since I was comfortable.

I'm pretty sure I fell asleep that way.

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><p><strong>So...yeah! This is the first chapter of "Good Enough" (which will probably changed later) and I hope that wasn't TOO out of character. :) Review, my minions, review!<strong>

**xXHigh-Fives For NothingXx and *Ravenclaw-Wings***


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry this took so long to upload. But it's 9,000 words (18 pages on Word) so I hope that makes up for it!**_  
><em>

**~HFFN~**_  
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><p><em>I felt like Cinderella.<em>

_My mother and I had gotten into a fight…again. This time, instead of just grounding me, she made me clean the kitchen, den, bathrooms, and my bedroom, all while still being grounded for a week. Which was worse than being grounded for a month in my book, since I absolutely _loathe _cleaning. _

_It sucked. _

_Even though I knew how stressed Mom was getting, I couldn't help but resent her some for punishing me like that. Normally, I wouldn't have minded being grounded, but given the fact that I had to clean _and _I couldn't see anyone at all? I was ticked off. _

_SUCK. _

_The Walker's had just gotten back from their one-month vacation in Florida and I was just dying to see them. I was planning to go over to their house today, but then Mother went and grounded me, so I couldn't then. _

_Anyways, I was almost finished with the kitchen, just having to wipe down the counters now. But then I had to go clean the bathrooms, my room, and the den. _

_That put aside, I was starting the counters, when I heard the doorbell ring. I set down the rag and wiped my wet hands on my jeans, which were old and ripped at the knees. _

_I ran fast to the door, curious as to who it could be considering Mom wasn't supposed to be home for another 3 hours. Before opening, I pulled the curtains back from the window and peeked outside to see none other than Fang himself. He saw me and half-smiled while I beamed back at him. _

_I stepped away from the window and hastily opened the door. Once said door was open, I tackled him in a hug, not giving him a chance to say anything._

"_Oof!" He kind of stumbled back but caught his balance before we both could crash to the ground. He chuckled lightly at my excitement, making my heart do that weird thudding thing, before wrapping his arms around my waist, returning the hug. My stupid heart had been doing that every time I even _saw _him for the last year. I'd kind of gotten used to it, but it still annoyed the heck outta me. _

"_Don't you _ever _leave for that long again, okay?" I demanded, still not letting go. I felt him nod into my hair. _

"_I won't," he said. _

_I pulled away partially, and held out my right-hand pinky. "Pinky-swear?" He half-smiled again and hooked his finger around mine. _

"_Pinky-swear."_

We pulled away completely and he asked me if I wanted to go down to the park or something. My smile faded.

"_I can't," I told him. "I'm grounded." _

_He looked at the ceiling for a moment. "Oh." Then he smirked. "Fine. We can just hang around here."_

_I shook my head, disappointed. "I have to clean the house too." _

"_I'll help you."_

_I looked at him, surprised. "You will?"_

"_Sure. What are friends for?" _

_I smiled, a genuine smile. "Well then we need to get started, don't we?" _

_Two hours later, the entire house was clean, and we were up in my room, just lounging around, talking about really anything. I was laying on my stomach on my bed while Fang was sitting in my desk chair (you know, the swivel-y ones? Yeah, those), turned around facing me. _

"_So, how was Florida?" I asked, flicking my brown mess-of-a-braid over my shoulder and flipping through a book really quickly, just out of boredom. He shrugged. "Good. I loved the beach and our house, but other than that…Igster was being a pain." I laughed. Iggy _could _be a pain in the neck a lot of times._

"_Yeah, I'll never be able to be alone with him for more than a couple of minutes without me going insane." I laughed a little bit and he just half-smiled. _

"_Hey, can you pass me my iPhone?" I requested. Yes, at thirteen years old, I had an iPhone. But for the record, I _needed _a phone and I just saved up my money for it._

_Anyways, he looked around for it and I pointed behind him, "Right there." He fingered it for a second, looking at me suspiciously. I gave him a look like; "Toss it already!" and he did after a moment._

_I wasn't able to catch it easily even though it was a good throw. It bounced off my wrist and onto the floorboards in front of the edge of my bed, which was thankfully had a carpet over it. I winced slightly since I knew there would be a pretty well sized bruise on my wrist in the morning. "Well crap, now I have to move," I complained. I glanced up at Fang and asked him with my eyes if he could pick it up. _

_He sighed, rolled his eyes, and got up from his seat. He picked up my iPhone for me and I was about to thank him and take it when he held it back. "Oh, no, you don't get your phone now," he said._

_I gaped at him for a moment. "Why _not?" _I whined._

_He grinned as I stood up on my knees and tried to get it from him, him just holding it higher above his head. "Because you wouldn't get it and you made me move."_

_I glared at him and sat back down, crossing my arms over my chest. "I curse the fact that you're taller than me," I muttered. _

_He chuckled. "One of the many perks of being a guy. We're generally taller than girls. Plus you're just short."  
>"I am <em>not!_"_

_He rolled his eyes again. "_Suuuure_, Maxikins, whatever you say…" _

"_I'm just fun sized!" I defended myself, sliding off of the bed. I stood in front of him for a moment, just glaring. Anyone should have—Actually, I take that back, anyone _would _have cowered in fear at my death stare, but he didn't even flinch, which just made me even more annoyed. "I really, really hate you," I said. _

_He grinned once more. "No you don't. You could never." He bent over a little bit so that his face was level with mine, but held my phone behind him even higher, so that I still wouldn't have a chance to get it. _

_I gave him a look but didn't say anything while he continued to look smug. _

_I spent a good 20 more minutes trying to get that thing (or, well, it _felt _like 20 minutes, it was probably only, like, 5) but to no avail. Fang would just either side-step or jump along with me so that I still couldn't get it, a look of amusement plastered on his usually emotionless face. _

_Finally, out of breath, I sighed in defeat. "Fine. I give up." _

_That stupid yet amazing grin didn't leave his face. "Good. I win." He sounded very proud of himself._

_I rolled my eyes at him. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Can we please do something else now?" I asked impatiently, crossing my arms like I'd been doing so often. He nodded and we sat down on the bed. I sat with my knees tucked underneath me while he sat cross-legged. _

_We just started talking like we had been before and he was slowly forgetting to keep guard of my phone. But I guess he saw me glance down at it because he quickly took it away from me. _

_I groaned. "I really, really hate you again." _

_He grinned. _

_I noted that he'd been doing that a lot lately._

_I couldn't say that I particularly minded it. _

_Anyways, we went back to our normal chatter, me remembering not to glance at it every three seconds. He kept it in his hands though, which were sitting in his lap. _

_While he wasn't focused on me, I grabbed his hands and tried to pry it out of them. He jerked his hands in the opposite direction but I had a death grip on the one corner of my precious iPhone that I could hold. I could tell he was getting annoyed at me for my random attack but I just wanted my darn ipod/phone! _

_This went on for another couple of minutes. I tugged on my phone as hard as I could but it didn't quite work since both of us had a good grip. We both fell backwards so that I was on my back and he was above me. I didn't like that position, especially since he had the upper hand when it came to getting the stupid device. _

_He finally lost his grip on the thing so that my hands plus the phone jerked back and smacked me in the nose. I ignored the small shock of pain and quickly tucked my hands under my thighs so that he couldn't get the phone. Once the phone was under, I brought my hand back up to my nose where it hurt a lot worst then it had just a second ago. _

_We just sat there for a moment, not doing anything, both of us kind of tired from our fight. He was still on top of me but didn't seem to realize this until he saw that my nose was hurting and jumped off of me. _

"_Aw, crap, Max, are you okay?" he asked while he helped me sit up, even though I didn't really need the help. _

_I nodded at him. "Yeah. I'm fine, my nose just hurts some," I told him, dismissing it with the flick of my wrist. He looked at me warily as I scooted into a more comfortable position and took my hand away from my nose. I glanced down at my palm and fortunately did not see any blood. _

_He didn't look at me for a second and I pulled my iPhone out from under my thigh at that moment. "Ha! I got it!" I gloated. _

_He groaned and scowled at me, annoyed. His glares were actually pretty terrifying but I didn't let that show. Plus, I'd seen it a lot so it wasn't really _as _terrifying. _

_I jumped up from the bed and put my ipod/iPhone on my iHome dock. I unlocked the screen and went to my ipod app, choosing a song that I knew that Fang knew too. _

Stop and Stare _by One Republic drifted through the speakers. I came and sat back on the bed, this time facing Fang. "That is literally_ all _I wanted to do," I told him. He shrugged, not affected by my annoyed tone and expression. _

_We didn't say anything for a moment. I started singing the song underneath my breath, considering I knew all of the lyrics. _

"And you'd give anything to get what's fair/but fair ain't what you really need/Oh/Can you see what I see?" _I sang, my eyes traveling to the window. _

_I heard Fang humming it after a moment and I grinned knowingly at him. He didn't stop like I figured he would but just looked right back at me._

_After a moment, something must've caught his eye because he got up off the bed and went over to my desk. He picked up the sheet of crinkled paper that was sitting on top of everything and looked at it for a moment. I sat up on the bed and swung my legs over the edge, but didn't get up. "What are you doing?" _

"_What's this?" he asked, holding up the paper. One word was scribbled across the top of the paper in my handwriting, and I could barely see what the seven small letters spelled: _Breathe.

_"Nothing!" I basically screamed, having realized what it was. I jumped off the bed and snatched it from his hand and he gave me a questioning look. I shook my head and went over to my dresser. I opened the third drawer and stuffed the paper under a bunch of clothes and miscellaneous things, which was also where my writing journal was hidden. I shut the drawer hastily and turned back around to him._

_"What was that about?" he asked me. He didn't show it (you know, emotionless brick wall, remember?) but I could tell that he was extremely perplexed of what just happened. I waved it off with the flick of my wrist though and we carried on with our conversations as normal._

_You're probably wondering what the piece of paper was. Well, it was a song that I had been working on for quite a while and didn't want Fang seeing until I was absolutely sure that it was awesome. But as of right then, I only had half of the first verse and the chorus, so, obviously, he wasn't allowed to read it._

_It was maybe thirty minutes after that that I heard the familiar sound of my mother's car pulling into the driveway. Both of our eyes widened._

_"What now?" he hissed and my mind started whirling, thinking of escape routes. A couple seconds of thinking and I did a mental face palm. Hello, Max's brain? Yeah, THERE'S A WINDOW!_

_I shooed him to said window, unlatching it as quickly as we could. It didn't take long since I opened that window a lot. (There wasn't a screen.) Thank God for that tree that was right next to the window._

_He climbed out the window and was half way out onto the tree when I heard the front door slam and my mother call, "Max?"_

_"Crap it," I cursed under my breath. I rushed away from the window and cracked open my door. I screamed out down to my mom, "Hi, Mom!" and then shut the door swiftly and went back to see how far Fang had gotten down the tree. He was about 3/4 the way down and I could hear my mom coming up the stairs. "Hurry!" I told him and he whispered/yelled back up at me, "What do you think I'm trying to do?"_

_I ignored his last comment and shut the window down hard, pulling the curtains over them just in case._

_Just in time too since my mom knocked on the door at the exact moment that I pulled the curtains over. I rushed over to my bed and flopped down on my stomach, a book in hand, and yelled, "Come in!" as normally as I could._

_Mom came in and smiled when she saw me sitting down, (pretend) reading the first thing I had grabbed. I smiled back at her, "Hi Mom. How was the mall?"_

_"Fine. I didn't end up buying much but I went out to eat afterwards and brought you home some dinner," she said. I guessed that she had cooled off since before she left, considering she was being pretty chipper, like usual._

_"Uh, yeah, thanks Mom." I glanced out to the window even though I knew that the curtain was closed and Fang was probably down and on his way back to his house by then._

_I turned back to Mother and she gave me a concerned look. "Max, are you okay?" I nodded and told her that everything was perfectly fine._

_"Okay…" she said, uncertainly. "Good job cleaning the house, by the way. It looks nice." My lips twitched up at the tips. "Thanks," I told her and went back to fake reading. Mom exited the room, closing the door slowly behind her._

_I snapped the book shut and jumped off of my bed and to the window. I pulled the white curtains aside and peered out. Fang wasn't anywhere in sight._

_Wow. That was a close one._

* * *

><p>When I came to my door the next day, I opened it to find my mom hadn't returned from work. She worked as a veterinarian so she stayed late, and there was a note on the fridge that said something about an emergency down at the vet.<p>

So I had the house to myself since I was an only child. Sometimes I liked it, other times…not so much. It got sort of boring being alone all of the time, but other times I liked being able to scream and sing loudly without anyone fussing at me.

I walked into the kitchen and made myself some popcorn, one of the only foods I could make without burning the house down (no matter _what _Fang says). When the popcorn was done, I grabbed the bowl and walked into the den. I plopped myself down on the couch and turned on the TV, swiping the remote control from the coffee table. I changed the channel to Cartoon Network, one of the only channels that I actually enjoy watching. The announcer or whatever said, "_Up NEXT: Adventure Time!_" I squealed—yes, I _squealed_. This is what Adventure Time did to me—and jumped from the couch, and ran to the dinning room where I had, for some reason, put my Ukulele. I strummed along with the theme song, having learned the chords, and come on, the lyrics weren't hard to memorize!

This episode involved Princess Bubblegum. So I, being very happy about this, watched intently, not blinking for minutes on end. Apparently, the Ice King had done something wrong so Finn and Jake captured him and put him in a Candy Kingdom cage under a big tree, which was made by Princess Bubblegum.

"_So your letting me go?" asked the Ice King, "Does that mean… we're friends?" _

"_Just leave before I change my mind!" Finn ordered. _

_The Ice King flew off, Finn and Jake locked themselves in the cage._ _"We did the right thing, right Jake?" Finn asked._

"_I don't know man, did we?" Jake asked. _

_Princess Bubblegum returned to find that there was no Ice King. She got a murderous look in her eye. _

_"WHERE IS THE ICE KING?" she yelled. Finn and Jake explained what happened. She explained why she needed the Ice King._

But I was disturbed by a knock on the door, most likely Iggy. For some reason, Iggy always liked to come to my house at really random times, most times asking where Ella is. (Ella came over a lot too.) I groaned and flipped over so I was on my back and pulled myself off the couch. "Iggy, if you're here for Ella, I don't have any idea—"

I stopped mid-sentence. "Um… hello," I greeted, surprised. What was he doing here again?

"About the dance…" Fang started, "I need to know…" but his voice trailed off when he glanced at the street.

"Need to know what?" I questioned, and I'm sorry to say that I tried to get him to hurry up so that I didn't have to miss Adventure Time.

"Um…" he trailed off again, unsure.

"Adventure Time's on, wanna watch? After that, then you can tell me what you need. I'm not missing another second," I offered. He nodded and followed me to the den. We curled up in a blanket, munching on the popcorn. Even though it was only the beginning of October, it was cold inside and out. I curled up to him for more warmth while he wrapped an arm around my shoulder, almost protectively. I glanced at his face to see that he was half-smiling.

We watched two episodes of the show before I saw that up next was 'MAD'. I turned off the TV, and kind of missed his arm around me when we both turned to face each other to talk. "You needed something?" I asked. He met my eyes and his eyes were… pure black. As always. He had taken off that emotionless mask, staring into my eyes, making me fidget some under his gaze.

"Oh. Yeah, I do," he said. I quirked my eyebrow as if to ask what. He continued, "Well… yes. I do need to tell you something."

"Okay, what?" I asked, staring at him again. He had seemed more determined to tell me.

"Well, I was wondering if you'd—" Fang started but was cut-off by the doorbell. I rolled my eyes to Fang, and muttered, "How many people are gonna interrupt me today?" I opened the door to Dylan, one of my "semi-friends", if that makes sense. He was the kind of person that I didn't _not_ like, but didn't necessarily like. I'll admit though, he was ex-_tremely _cute, what with his typical California beach tan, blonde hair, turquoise eyes, and perfect smile. Not that it matters that much…

"Hey Dylan. Not to be rude or anything, but…why are you here?" I asked, very confused.

"I was gonna ask if you wanted to go to the Halloween Dance with me. So…you wanna go with me?" he asked cautiously, then flashing that perfect smile I mentioned earlier. As much as that had made me melt, I had to decline.

"Sorry, but I'm kind of already going with Fang," I said, nodding in Fang's general direction. Dylan looked at him and smiled slightly at me when he turned back to look at my face.

"I figure he would ask you. He talks 'bout you _everyday_," Dylan said. I glanced at Fang to see that he was repeatedly face palming, looking aggravated and kind of embarrassed.

"Excuse me?" I asked even more confused than before. I turned back to Dylan and he looked confused too.

"Dylan, can I talk to you _now_?" Fang asked venomously. Dylan nodded; Fang and him walked out my front door and shut it behind them. _Gosh, I hope he doesn't murder him_, I thought. Fang sure looked like he was ready to. I pressed my ear to the door, staying silent.

*****FANG'S POV*****

I slammed the door and turned to Dylan after making sure it was closed _all _the way.

"Dude, why did you tell her what I said?" I asked outraged. He looked confused, so I put on my mask. I stared down at my shark tooth necklace, since the chain was pretty long and it always seemed to calm me down when I did that for some strange reason.

"You two are going to the dance, it's a date! I thought you wouldn't mind! You are together, right?" Dylan asked. By "together" he meant "going out".

"No! We were going as _friends!_" I whispered/yelled, making sure not to _too_ loudly though. I glanced at the door, to make sure Max hadn't opened it. Then I realized her door is _really_ loud when it opens and closes and felt kind of stupid at the realization.

"Man, I'm sorry. I didn't know," he apologized. I stared at him for a moment.

"She's probably going over the edge, with wondering about WHAT THE HECK YOU SAID!" I yelled, not caring about my voice anymore, and flailing my arms around, frustrated. It was never like me to loose my cool like that but if I was going to let Max find out that I liked her, I was going to do it myself. Not because a guy from my school just slipped up.

Though I was sure that the last "yelling thing" didn't help my situation in the slightest.

I rubbed my brow tiredly, feeling like I was scolding a young child. He just stood there for a moment, looking very uncomfortable and apologetic while I just calmed myself down. "It's fine," I finally said. "Just be more _careful _next time." With that, I opened the door and went inside, not caring that much that he was still out there. I turned around to Max.

"Did you hear any of that?" I asked nervously. She nodded, looking as confused as ever, even more so than before we went out. "Um, yeah, you yelled, 'WHAT THE HECK YOU SAID!'" she quoted, though not as loudly. We stood in silence for a moment.

"Did he leave?" She asked.

"Huh?" was my oh-so intelligent reply.

"Did Dylan leave?" she said patiently. I nodded, kind of lost in my own world.

More silence.

"I'm gonna go home," I told her suddenly. She looked at the door, then back at me. The phone rang but she ignored it. I stepped a bit closer to her. I leaned down, then stopped myself. I couldn't do it. I turned around and looked at the door.

"Can't you stay any longer?" she asked, touching my arm. I shook my head. We said our goodbyes and I walked out the door without another word.

Yes, when I was leaning down, I wanted to kiss Max. But I had to stop. I mean, what if she didn't like me back? She had made it pretty obvious the other day when I asked her to the dance that she only thought of us as friends. Nothing more. But then there was the one little, optimistic voice in the back of my head that was saying, "what if she _does _like you though?" Even if she did, what if something went wrong and we broke up, ending up hating each other? I couldn't risk losing her as a friend. I know that most couples, when they break up, they say that they "can still be friends," but everyone knows that they don't usually (read: ever) mean it. I couldn't risk having that happen to us.

My feet met the sidewalk and I stared back at Max's house until it disappeared from sight. I watched my Converse-clad feet moving almost as if on autopilot while I thought.

I loved Max. I'd known for a while, is it against the law to like her? No. She's sarcastic, aggravating, annoying, stubborn, extremely pretty, above average, she's funny, amazing, athletic, a fantastic singer, and she can beat anyone up who bothers her or her friends. Awesome, right? Yeah, she was basically my dream girl.

Or, well, not really. When I was maybe ten or eleven, I started imaging what my dream girl would be. She would've been tall, skinny, redheaded, smart, and kind of like those girls at our school who are popular and—I'm a teenage guy, don't freak at me when I say this—hot. When I was twelve or thirteen I realized that Max wasn't like that, but I liked her anyways. Actually, I probably liked her _more _because of that. A couple of months after, I realized that I was in love with her. I didn't _love her;_ I was _in love with_ her.

I walked into my house, locking the door behind me, took a Coke from the fridge. I ran up the stairs and to my room, flopping down on the bed, and flipping on the TV. I sipped my Coke and then closed my eyes, thinking.

I was such a coward. I couldn't even ask Max about the dance! I just didn't have the guts to tell her that I wanted to go as more-than-friends. But like I said, I just couldn't risk losing her as a friend.

My phone rang and the Caller ID said _HART, ELIZABETH_. I walked over to the phone on my desk, which held my laptop and picked it up, answering it.

"Hello?" I asked, keeping my tone to sound as if I were bored. I was bored. I had left Max's house. We had been having fun. Before stupid Dylan interrupted. I don't hate Dylan, but he gets…annoying sometimes.

"Hey Fang!" Lissa's high nasally voice exclaimed. I hated that voice.

"What is it, Lissa?" I asked rudely. I didn't want to be polite to her. I didn't want her to think in even the slightest bit that I liked her.

"So have you thought about what I asked? About the dance?" she asked, sounding a bit sad. Why would I care?

"I'm going with Max," I said plainly. I thought, with the fact that she stalked me and watched me every moment of everyday, she would know. I could almost feel her frown.

"What? Oh, as _friends,_ right? Well, if you're going as friends, I can be your girlfriend date!" she yelled. Why did she have to yell? We were on the freaking phone for crying out loud.

"Um… no. We're going as a couple," I said.

…

Wait.

Rewind.

…

OH MY GOD.

Oh my God!

… DID I _SERIOUSLY _SAY THAT? I was so freaking dead! Max and me as a thing? Totally not. She would never…

"WHAT? You've got to be kidding me! But—but—she's so—and you're so—and I'm so—but _whhhy, _Fangy? I thought we had something special!" she all but screeched. I cringed, holding the phone away from me ear. "Um, we were never together…"

I could basically hear the gears in her head grinding, trying to comprehend why I would want to go with Max instead of her.

"Fine, Fang…but you can't get rid of me that easily," she said, hanging up and sounding extremely stressed and sad. After hanging up I slammed the phone down on the charger. I was mad about Dylan…. about Lissa…. about the fact that Max and I were just friends and forever stuck in the friend zone! I ran to my wall and punched it. My fist didn't feel anything, but the wall gained another hole.

There was only one other hole. And that was from the time Max saw me with Lissa (we were a little too close according to her) and wouldn't talk to me. As you can see I'm not really… as you say, a "social butterfly". My only friends are Max, Iggy, Max, Nudge, Max, Ella, Max. Did I mention Max? So, as I was saying. I punched the wall because Max gained Ella and Nudge because their girls and Iggy was… well; I can't remember where Iggy was. But I didn't talk to anyone. But, of course she forgave me and we went back to normal.

Fifteen minutes later Max called me. When I saw RIDE, MAXIMUM I ran to the phone yanked it off the hook answering it. I accidentally fell in the process but I got back up. It hurt, but I got back up.

"Hello?" I answered acting as if it wasn't someone I loved. I walked over to my bed and sat down near the headboard. I laid down and kick off my converse.

"Fang? Lissa told me some absurd rumor about how we had kissed and had a date," She started, "Did you tell her that?"

At that moment my mom walked in to check on me. I sat up and looked at her. She smiled at me and nodded, asking who was on the phone. I told her it was Max. After I told her she shut the door.

"No! I just told her I was going to the Halloween Dance with you!" I explained quickly. I could hear her sigh.

"I should have known, with her being Lissa and all. Sorry to bother," she apologized. I heard something crash and Max yelp.

"What happened?" I asked. She started chuckling slightly and I could picture her smiling in my head.

"Oh, nothing! Iggy just knocked over something. IGGY! YOU BETTER CLEAN THAT UP OR I'LL BEAT THE LUMP OUTTA YOU!" she yelled, sounding very pissed.

I heard Iggy screech in his girl voice, "Oh no! I'm _sooo_ scared! Oh no, don't hurt me!"

Then a, "OW! WHAT THE CRAP, MAX?" and her laugh. I could tell she was trying to slow down her breathing, laughing again.

"Wait, why's Ig there?" I asked. I hadn't heard Ella (his true love), so why was it _just _him and Max? She always said that if she stayed alone with him for too long then she would go insane.

"He came over to aggravate me. I'm seriously not kidding, that's how he greeted me at the door," she said with a little bit of laughter still in her voice. I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, so you left your grey cardigan at my house. Come get it now or I'll burn it, you little midget," I taunted.

"I AM NOT THAT SHORT! YOU'RE JUST REALLY TALL SO SHUT UP, YOU STUPID KITTY!"

I didn't say anything for a minute.

Then: "I hope you get stuck in the Pandorica."

"_I_ hope you get sucked into the crack of time."

"I hope the Weeping Angels snap your neck."

"I hope Finn slashes you with his sword."

"I hope you get shot by a Dalek."

"I hope Voldemort Avada Kedabra's you."

"I hope Marshall Lee rejects you."

She gasped.  
>"I hope <em>Amy<em> rejects you!"

"I hope Rory shoots you with his gun-hand."

"I hope Jake squishes you with his giant foot!"

"I hope you get capture by the Ice King."

She laughed lightly. "Oh, you'd never let me be forced to marry him. You'd save me anyways!"

"Would not," I grumbled.

"Would too."

"Why would I?"

"Because we're besties and you _loooove _me!"

"Not true."

So true.

"_Suuuure_, Fang, keep telling' yourself that. Whatever floats your boat!"

She sounded triumphant.

I sighed. "Just pick up your cardigan before I actually _do _burn it."

Yes, Insult Wars were something that we had often, always referencing something like Harry Potter, Adventure Time, Doctor Who (mainly Doctor Who), etc.

She made a clicking noise with her tongue in disappointment. I could just picture her shaking her head at me. "Have you been playing with matches again?"

"…Maybe."

Just to humor her.

"I'll be over in a minute. IGGY! I'M LEAVING SO DON'T KILL YOURSELF OR BOMB ANYTHING!" Max yelled. Iggy laughed and then the phone clicked.

About two minutes later, I heard the front door open. Both of us had keys to each other's houses so that's why she had no need to knock or anything.  
>"Hi Mrs. Walker!" I heard her greet my mother.<p>

"Oh, hello, Max! Let me guess, here for Fang?" Mom said.

"…He threatened to burn my cardigan."

"Ah. Seems like something he'd do to get you over here."

I glared at the door.

Gee, _thanks_ Mom.

Thanks.

I could hear her laugh. "Well, I really need to leave. Iggy's over at my house. Alone. With matches. And an oven. And I'm sure he has explosives hidden in his pockets."

Mom sighed and I could tell she'd be smiling. "What did I tell that boy? No brining bombs to other people's houses! But does he listen to me? Nope."

Max laughed again. "That's Iggy for ya, I guess."

"Well," I heard Mom start. "I hate to do this while you're here, but I need to go back to the shop. Some emergency over there or something."

"Oh, that's okay, Mrs. Walker. We'll be fine. I won't let him destroy anything."

"Okay, dear, I'll be back in an hour."

I heard light, familiar footsteps coming up the stairs and then a knock on the door. She didn't wait for me to answer but instead just walked right on in.

"Hey," she greeted, smiling again. I nodded at her in return. She was wearing black skinny jeans, and her blue shirt that said "GOD SAVE THE QUEEN". Her face was make-up free, something I saw often, but her feet were clad in black, high-heeled boots, (though the heels were small.) On her right hand was a ring that said, "Too fast to live, too young to die" and she was wearing a beanie and her thick-rimmed glasses. She normally wore her contacts but I guessed that she had just gotten lazy and didn't feel like putting them on, instead grabbing the glasses she used to wear all the time.

"So where's—" I cut off her question by throwing her cardigan at her. She caught it on instinct and bundled it up in her hands. "'Kay, thanks." She turned it over in her hands a couple times to see if I had done anything to it.

She was just about to leave when her phone buzzed in the back pocket of her jeans. She pulled it out curiously and unlocked it, checking whatever it was. She typed in something quickly and then shoved it in her pocket again.

"Okay, well, I need to go to the store real quick. Go to my house and baby-sit Iggy for me," she sighed. I groaned.

"But he's 16, why can't he-" but I was cut off by Max grabbing my arm. She gave me her signature "no-nonsense" look. My skin instantly started tingling and I nodded reluctantly.

Max opened my window and did that famous ninja jump of hers.

Oh, and her ninja jump was when she jumps out my window; she gracefully kicks the side of my roof, then grabs some tree branches and lands on the ground perfectly. Man, she was good at that.

I reluctantly left my room, grabbing my jacket on the way. Down the stairs, and out the door to Max's house.

Max's house was huge, but not fancy. It looked like it would be on the outside, but on the inside you could automatically tell that it wasn't meant to be. I never understood why they had to have such a huge house, considering Max was an only child and always had been. Apparently, her parents hadn't actually planned on having any more children, so why they would want to have to spend more money on something they don't need is beyond me.

Though the size was good for hide-'n-seek when we were little.

I ran in to the house that was so familiar to me to notice that it was completely quiet. Something that didn't normally happen when Iggy was there.

"Iggy!" I yelled, going through all the rooms to make sure if he was there or not. No answer. "IGGY, GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE!"

Nothing.

Again.

_Meh. Must not be here_, I thought.

I walked in to the living room and plopped down on the leather couch, snatching up the TV remote and flipping it on.

I was just about to go home since there wasn't anything to do when something caught my eye.

It was a notebook, sitting on the coffee table. I recognized it as Max's writing journal that she'd kept since we were…what, seven? Eight? It had definitely been a while.

Her writing journal was closed, but there was a pencil book marking one of the pages. I know I shouldn't have, but curiosity got the best of me and I opened it to the page that she had last been working on.

This is what I read:

_A little girl, no older than ten or eleven, dashed across the busy street, careful to avoid running into anyone. She made sure that the two pieces of fruit were secure in her hands and well hidden. She didn't need anyone catching her. _

_She was short for her age, but fast, so she managed not to be spotted by anyone. And anyway, no one would pay attention to a little poor girl running around the city. _

_Or, well_, almost_ no one. _

_A boy, maybe a year or so older than her, tapped his mother on the shoulder and stopped walking. His mother glanced back at him, looking curious. "What is it, Nicholas?" He pointed in the general direction of where he had last seen the girl darting around. "Oh,"_

_His mother said, as if that simple gesture made all the sense. "Well…come on then." And they set off after her. _

_The girl felt sort of guilty about taking that man's food without paying. She didn't like to think of it as "stealing", since it reminded her too much of the place she had just came from, but she was starving. Hadn't eaten in three days. She was actually astounded that she hadn't passed out already, either from the lack of sleep or the lack of food. It was winter, being January, and she only had the clothes she wore, plus her mother's old cloak. The cloak, surprisingly, kept her warm most days, but if it started snowing hard enough…she'd be a goner for sure. She'd had to stay in a very generous old woman's house once already, and she'd had rather not be a burden like that to anyone else. Her dress was torn at the bottom and dirty from all the nights she had to camp out in the woods. At one point, she probable looked very rich, but after living all by her self for nearly a month had worn off all of the traces left of her old life. Her shoes, also, were dirty. If they were cleaned, anyone could've been able to tell that they were once worth a lot of money, but now were ruined and she knew she couldn't sell them, even if she did need the money. She'd get frostbite for sure if she didn't wear the shoes. _

_Once she was safely in an alley, away from everyone else, she flipped off her hood and pulled the two apples out from behind her back, glancing around just to make sure she wasn't being watched by anyone. Realizing that she wasn't, she bit into one, savoring the taste. Her hands were getting sticky from the juice that was dripping down onto them, but that was the last thing she was worried about. She knew that after she ate, she'd have to go find somewhere to stay. It had already started snowing very lightly, but she knew that it would turn vicious soon, knowing her luck. The odds had never really been in her favor, if you haven't picked that up already. _

_She was just about to start on the second one when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching her. Her senses (mainly hearing and sight) were far better than any normal human so she could hear them, even if they weren't in her line of sight. _

_The girl glanced quickly behind her, to see a woman with dark hair and blue eyes, and a boy around the girl's age sprinting across the street. Having made the realization that they could be coming after her, she hid the last apple and ran deeper into the alley, far back enough to where she was covered in darkness and unable to be seen by any normal human. With the hand that wasn't holding her food, she flipped the hood to her cloak back up again, concealing her face. She held her breath as the two entered the alley and her mind started whirling, thinking of escape routes. If they were just normal humans, she could take them easily, even if she was only ten. Now, if they were like her…that's another story all together. _

_The girl could see the woman glancing around, seeming sort of scared. "Hello?" she called, taking a careful step deeper into the alley, while the girl backed up further, still holding her breath. _

_Crunch. _

_She grimaced at the sound it made and cringed when she felt a shard of glass, mostly likely a broken beer bottle, dig into her heel. She knew that they were aware she was there by then, due to that stupid bottle that she had stepped on. _

"_Hello? I know someone's in here," the lady tried again. The boy suddenly took a couple of cautious steps towards where she was hidden, probably not sure what to do. He had inky black hair that was in tangles and dark eyes that seemed almost black, but she could see flecks of gold in them, thanks to her super-sight. Was it bad timing to notice how good-looking the boy was? _

_He didn't say anything, and it frightened the girl that he was looking directly at her. She could feel the blood dripping down her foot and into her shoes, and she shifted her hands behind her back where they were cradling the apple. Her foot was stinging badly now. _

_Pain is only a message, she chanted over and over in her head. Then she admitted to herself, but this one is getting kind of hard to ignore. She had a very high pain tolerance, more than anyone her age should be capable of. She should've been able to take that cut easily but she was already sick and weak. Tired. Hungry. She needed more food. She needed a place to stay, she realized, as the snow started steadily getting heavier. _

_Just on instinct, she backed up as he tried to come closer, trying her best to put as much possible distance between herself and them as she could at the moment._

"_We aren't going to hurt you." The woman's words made her stop in her tracks. She remembered the last time someone had said that to her. Things hadn't turned out right. Things never did for her. Not since her mother had died. Her life took a turn for the worst the day that her mother got pneumonia, three years ago. _

_The girl stumbled back like the woman had slapped her across the face. The back of her head was the first thing to feel the brick wall behind her and she screamed in her head. It seemed like things had been getting even worse lately, like everyone was taunting her that she never should've ran away, never should've left that place. Because even if they did hurt her, at least she had shelter and food. _

"_How do I know that?" she spoke up suddenly, taking both of them off guard. She clenched her fists and her jaw tightened. "How do I know that you aren't just going to use me like everyone else did?" she hissed, preparing to fight. The boy was still looking directly at her, something of a look of empathy written across his face, making her kind of nervous. _

_No one said anything. _

_And then, "Why would we want to use you?" _

_From the boy. _

_She didn't say anything for a moment, looking at him skeptically. "Because…"she paused. "I'm…special." And in a much deadlier, angrier tone, she added, "and you want me for the same reason they all wanted me. But I'm never going back. Ever!" Red spotted her vision and she tried to control her anger, but it was getting harder and harder by the second. All those people…they never loved her. They got her to open up to them, to trust them, and then they went and tortured her. Just like everyone else there. She hated them. She hated them with all that she had. But that wasn't saying much, considering she didn't have anything anyway. They took everything from her. Her mother. Her father. Her home. And Ari…poor, little, innocent Ari. _

_She had figured that as long as she had Ari and he had her, they could make it through anything the people threw at them. But then they took him away too. They turned him into something evil, something terrible, something bloodthirsty. _

A monster.

_That was the last thing he had been before they killed him. They wanted her to remember him like that, she knew it. It was too late for that though. She'd always only think of that redheaded, brave five-year-old that fought them with her. _

_Her eyes pricked with unshed tears and took a deep breath. Despite how tough she was, she still cried most times when she thought too much of him. Her brother was dead because of freaking her. If she hadn't let them taken him, if she had been more careful, he wouldn't have been turned into that. _

_Suddenly, she heard a voice in her head, coaxing her to calm down, murmuring sweet nothings to her, and it was as if she had obey its every order, even if she hated the feeling of having to have help. She wanted to please it, make it proud of her. _

_After a moment, her vision went back to normal and her breathing slowed. She unclenched her fists. That's much better, isn't it? The voice told her. _

"_Do you have a name?" the boy asked her vigilantly. She nodded slowly, knowing that even though she wasn't in the light, he could still see her clearly. She was about to tell them her name when her common sense came and took over. Stupid! She scolded herself. Run! Get out of here! _

_She was about to do so when she heard that voice again, except instead of calming her down, it was telling her to stay, that she could trust them. Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay a little longer…one part of her was saying. The other, more logical side was screaming at her, GET OUT! _

_The first side won and she told them, almost against her own free will, "My name is Max." The apple behind her back was long forgotten and so seemed everything else, including the shard of glass that was probably still stuck in her heel and the back of her head that was dripping blood from how she had smashed her head into the wall. She pulled her hood off of her head and stepped into one of the only remaining patches of sunlight, as it was slowly getting dark and the snow was still falling. _

"_Well, Max, do you have anywhere to go?" the woman questioned. Max shook her head not looking at either of them. "What happened to you?" the woman continued. Max was getting tired of being questioned, especially since that last one was too personal. She didn't want to answer. She didn't want them knowing who she was or where she came from. _

"_I ran away."_

_Her tongue didn't obey. _

"_I'm Mrs. Walker," the lady—Mrs. Walker informed her. "This is my son Nicholas." She didn't bother looking up from her shoes. Abruptly, she was brought of her trance from earlier and she was very well aware of how hungry and tired she was. Her head was bounding and she felt like she was about to pass out any second. Her eyelids almost seemed too heavy to keep open and she became colder than before and glanced back at her feet. The snow was falling even faster and heavier than it had been for quite a while, and she shivered as the icy wind blew, flakes of snow obscuring her vision. She sneezed once, twice, three times, and Mrs. Walker said, "Oh, you poor thing, you'll catch a cold out here all alone. Do you want to stay with us for the night?" Max nodded after a moment to think, sniffling. She couldn't stay outside the whole night, especially because of those nasty cuts she'd gotten. And anyway, she needed to get food into her. Just two apples wouldn't help her much at all. _

_Speaking of the apple, she pulled it out from behind her back and stared at it for a moment while Mrs. Walker chattered on about something that Max couldn't make sense of. She felt…distant. Mrs. Walker had started walking out of the alley with Nicholas, and she had followed, but as if on autopilot. _

_She wiped off some snow that had started building up on the apple's surface, her finger tips red and stinging from the cold. She sniffed again and pushed some brown hair behind her ear. While doing so, her already-numb fingers skimmed her ear tips and she felt that they were almost as cold as her hands were, so she pushed the hood back up over her head, trying to gain some warmth. It didn't do much, but at least it was something. _

Nicholas glanced back at her but she didn't see. He wondered what she

But that was the end of it. I wished she had finished it. I would have to talk to her about it later.

I flipped through it aimlessly, feeling kind of bad about reading it but she wasn't there and sometimes I was too curious for my own good…

I stopped at one page that had caught my eye. The handwriting seemed the same as hers, but it looked like she hadn't written it recently, a couple years at most.

It read:

**Breathe **

_Harness your heart, and be still now_

_Quiet that mind that will wander_

_All sorts of dark alleys_

_Tragedy strikes your self-esteem_

_Constantly waiting for an ending_

_To all of this_

_She opens her eyes_

_Suddenly she cries_

_Can we help her?_

_Can we help her?_

_And she replies_

_You know_

_I fake it oh so well_

_That God Himself can't tell_

_What I mean and why my words are_

_Less than parallel with my feet_

_You ask me what I need_

_And all I really need_

_Is to breathe_

_People they seem so interested_

_Only a few get invested_

_With all the aches and pains_

_Doctor oh, doctor_

_Please help her_

_I fear she may not be breathing_

_Blue lips and doe eyes_

_That's her disguise_

_You know_

_I fake it oh so well_

_That God Himself can't tell_

_What I mean and why my words are_

_Less than parallel with my feet_

_You ask me what I need_

_And all I really need_

_Is to breathe_

_Give me some space to breathe_

_I need a little room to breathe_

_Give me some space to breathe_

_All I need is a little room to breathe_

_I fake it oh so well_

_That God can't tell_

_You know_

_I fake it oh so well_

_That God Himself can't tell_

_What I mean and why my words are_

_Less than parallel with my feet_

_You ask me what I need_

_And all I really need_

_Is to breathe_

_Let me breathe_

The door opened and my eyes widened. I quickly snapped the notebook closed and threw it down on the coffee table. I tried to look as normal as ever when Max walked in, holding a bag in each hand.

She smiled when she saw me there. "Hey," she said casually, setting the bags down in the kitchen.

"Uh, hey," I stuttered, angry with myself for being nervous. I put on my mask.

"Why are you still here?"

"No reason," I lied smoothly, standing up from the couch and going into the kitchen. I started helping her put the groceries away in the cabinets and the fridge.

"Hey, where'd Iggy scamper off to?" she questioned, just having noticed the lack of obnoxious noise that would normally be coming from our dear friend.

"I have no idea," I answered and she just shrugged it off.

* * *

><p><strong>Awkward endings are awkward.<br>**

**Here are some links to their outfits!**

**h-t-t-p:/www dot polyvore dot com/cgi/set?id=36961838**

**h-t-t-p:/www dot polyvore dot com/maxs_ourfit_in_chapter_good/set?id=36961860**

**h-t-t-p:/www dot polyvore dot com/lissas_outfit_for_chapter_good/set?id=36961930**

**Yay for finished chapter! Woo!**


	3. Chapter 3

**The High-Fives For Nothing: We're super duper sorry that we haven't uploaded anything for such a long time-**_  
><em>**Ravenclaw Wings: -But we made sure that this chapter was long! It's 9,000+ words, same as the last chapter. **

**HFFN: But we need to clear some things up first. In the first chapter, it said that they were fourteen and freshmans, but that's wrong. We decided to change if after we uploaded that chapter, but forgot to fix that. So, just to make sure that you all know their ages, I'll remind you of them. **

_Iggy, Fang, Max: 16 and tenth graders_

_Ella and Nudge: 15 but still tenth graders_

_Gazzy: 8_

_Angel: 6_

**HFFN: 'Kay, so now that that's out of the way, let's go!**

**RW: Disclaimer: We don't own Maximum Ride, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alice in Wonderland, or Out of My League by Stephen Speaks.**

**HFFN: Also: I censor for the children. XD  
><strong>

* * *

><p><em>"Hey you. Yeah you. With the face," I pointed at Fang and he gave a weird look. "YOU WANNA STUDY?"<em>

_We were sitting on the floor of his bedroom, a disregarded board game sitting in between us, and the cards a mess and the playing pieces strewn all across his floor. It was a game that we donned rather boring ten minutes into the first game, so we had abandoned it. We'd just been talking for the rest of the time I'd been there. It was also raining outside, so doing anything active was out of the picture too. Some days were just aggravating like that. I hated it. Though being around my—what I call—"second family" helped cease the boredom that was sure to seep into my mind and slowly drive me insane._

_… Yeah._

_I shoved the board game away and scooted closer to him so that our knees were almost touching, sitting Criss-Cross Applesauce. It was half way through our 1st year at Middle School—6th grade—during November. The only people that were home was his dad, Gazzy (who was taking a nap), and us, who were sort of locked up in Fang's room…as per usual._

_He gave me an odd look once again. "You're insane but okay."_

_I threw my hands up excitedly and jumped up, just because I could really. "YAY! 'Cause you really need to study," I said, the last part seriously._

_He looked offended. "What?"_

_"Boy, have you seen yo' grades lately?" I said with a bad accent, jutting my hip out and putting my hand on my waist. He looked at me as if I were mildly psychopathic. He seemed to do that a lot, I noted dryly._

_"Yes, actually, I have. And I've seen yours too," he defended, putting the pieces to the game back in the box. He shoved the top on roughly and pushed it back under his bed. In my head, I went "OOOOH!" at his burn, but I wasn't about to let him know that._

_I slouched forward and groaned, dragging it out. "Yeah, I know. I'm not exactly 'beast' in Social Studies."_

_"Like I didn't already know," he joked, smirking to himself. I whacked him upside the head and he flinched away, sniggering to himself._

_"Oh, shut your mouth, you aren't any better," I retorted, sitting back down._

_(Which was a lie, if you're wondering. He was awesome in Social Studies. DARN THAT BOY.)_

_He smirked at me and raised one eyebrow in question. I swear he got that from me. But I didn't much mind—we stole little trademarks like that from each other all of the time. "That put aside, lets actually do something _productive_ now," he proposed, not sounding at all enthusiastic about it._

_I sighed and started complaining. "I freaking _hate_ Social Studies."_

_He didn't look up from his rather thick and newly opened textbook when he said, "Oh, stop whining, Maxikins."_

_I scowled at him, partially for calling me "Maxikins" and partially for accusing me of whining. I did not _whine_—I _complained_. There was most definitely a difference. "Whining? That most certainly is_ not_ whining," I snapped. Then I took a breath, slouched my shoulders again, and dragged out once more, "_Thiiiis isss whinnnnninnng_," making sure to use a very annoying, very high voice that was sure to irritate just about anyone._

_He held up his hands in surrender, shaking his head, black hair swinging around like a curtain, and smiled. "Okay, Lady Maxine, whatever you say. Lets just start studying already."_

_I beamed, happy again, and said in a terrible English accent, "That seems like a grand idea, Lord Nicholas." He looked at me, amused, but didn't continue my game while dragging his backpack from a couple of feet away over to him. I scolded him for not continuing our sort-of-game._

_"Okay," he said, holding a somewhat crumpled sheet of paper in his hand, and interrupting me. He smoothed it out as well as he could, which wasn't very. I was surprised he was able to even read what it said. "Time to start." I nodded to let him know to continue. "How long is the Nile River?"_

_I thought for a moment, scrunching my eyebrows together and biting my lip. I stared at the ceiling and then guessed, "Um…. I don't know, 400?" I shrugged._ **(HFFN: This actually happened. Emily-RW-was quizzing me on our Egypt test and I thought it was 400 :/ I'm smart, I know.)**

_I glared at Fang when his cheeks puffed out like he was holding back a laugh, and then his shoulders started shaking lightly. "What?" I demanded. He kept chuckling/laughing/whatever._

_"It's _4,000_ miles, smart one," he told me sarcastically. I would have felt incredibly stupid and incompetent, had that been anyone else. But it _wasn't_ anyone else—it was Fang, and I knew he was just joking. Despite how well I hid a lot of my emotions also, he knew that it would hurt my feelings if he called me dumb—and because of that, he would never say something mean like that. So I gave him a somewhat fake, icy glare while trying not to smile, because honestly, when he laughed—_everyone_ laughed. It was contagious. He didn't do it often, but when he actually let them escape…it sure as heck was a sight to see._

_"Hey," I warned him lightheartedly, "don't you _dare_ use my own insult to call me brainless!"_

_He grinned and continued to tease me, lowering his head in mock shame, and using an English accent as I had been doing. "Apologies, o' most noble and honorable Lady Maxine, please—Forgive me of my crimes."_

_I stifled a laugh and placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to act "delicate" and "lady like," though I highly doubt I managed to pull it off. "Your apology has been accepted, kind sir."_

_We laughed so hard our sides hurt._

_I would have been very embarrassed and I would have been trying to not show my blush if it had been anyone else besides him. But it _wasn't_ anyone else—it was Fang._

* * *

><p><em>OH…MY…GOD…<em>

_I jumped from my computer chair and leaped across the room, snatching my phone from where it was charging. I quickly dialed Fang's number, tapping my foot expectantly as I waited for him to answer._

_It was our 3rd and final year of middle school—eighth grade. I was in my room watching stuff on Youtube when I found something that I definitely needed to show to my best friend._

_When I finally heard his slightly-more-enthusiastic-but-still-monotonous "hello?" I just about jumped with joy._

_"FANG! GET OVER TO MY FRIGGIN' HOUSE RIGHT NOW! IT'S AN EMERGENCY!" I screamed, excited._

_"What? What is it? What happened?" he questioned, obviously thinking something bad had happened._

_"No time to explain! JUST GET OVER HERE!" I told him impatiently, ending the call and throwing the phone back onto my bed._

_I paced around my room for a little bit before I finally heard the open and close of the front door and I knew he'd arrived._

_This was proven correct when he threw open my door, looking worried. "What's wrong?"_

_"Nothing's wrong, calm down," I said as I slid into the computer chair again._

_"Well, then what is it?" he asked._

_"Just the BEST THING EVER," I announced._

_"Chocolate chip cookies?"_

_"No, no…almost as fantabulous though."_

_"Your mom's chocolate chip cookies?"_

_"Um, no…and that sounded wrong. Never say that again."_

_We looked at each other for a moment before we both started laughing._

_(Well,_ I_ laughed—Fang _chuckled_. He never laughed. He was too "manly" for that.)_

_I moved the mouse so that the computer turned back on and I pressed the play button on the Youtube video. Fang looked quizzically at me, but I just motioned for him to continue watching. I was just about hyperventilating from how amazing it was._

_"…What the crap am I watching?" Fang asked me once we were two minutes in. I paused it to reply, since one of my pet peeves was when people don't see all of something._

_"I told you already. It's the best thing ever."_

_"They're friggin' horses."_

_"PONIES, my good sir. Ponies. Not horses—PONIES. And unicorns. And pegasi…. And alicorns."_

_"…Still…what exactly is this?"_

_"MY LITTLE PONY, IDIOT! Look at the title of the video!"_

_"'Friendship is Magic, Pilot Episode Part 1'?"_

_"Yes. Now stop being so critical and friggin' enjoy it."_

_"…This is why you called me over?"_

_"…Yes…"_

_"You…are insane."_

_"I AM NOT! I AM PERFECTLY SANE, THANK YOU! You just can't appreciate how awesome this show really is because you're blinded by your urge to hate anything that seems girly."_

_"I am not 'blinded' by anything, you're just crazy."_

_"I am most certainly sane. Honest to God. There are plenty of people who enjoy watching MLP: FIM, okay?"_

_"'MLP: FIM'?"_

_"'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'! Have you even been listening to a word I've said?"_

_"…"_

_"…"_

_"We sound like a little married couple."_

_I smacked the back of his head, blushing, while he snickered slightly. "Shut up and enjoy the freaking video," I muttered._

_Forty minutes later, we had finished the pilot episode, part 1 and part 2. I swiveled around in my chair to face Fang who had moved from the chair beside me and onto my bed._

_"So," I started, crossing my arms across my chest and looking at him expectantly, "what did you think of that?"_

_He paused for a second. "I still think you're crazy."_

_I threw my hands up in defeat and huffed, turning back around so that I was facing the computer again. "Whatever."_

_I opened a new tab and typed 'facebook . com' into the URL._

_I heard Fang sigh from behind me. "What are you doing this time?" he breathed into my ear. He knew that I hated that because I normally jumped or shivered or did something mildly embarrassing. That time, I did shiver, however small it was but he always noticed it, something that angered me even more than him sneaking up on me in the first place. I could basically feel him smirk at me even though I wasn't facing him. But besides that, I ignored him and continued to log into my account._

_I checked it and saw that I had twelve messages from Jared, a boy from our school who never wanted to leave me alone. He'd been very obvious about his crush on me for a couple years now and every time he asked me out, I declined, so he tried harder._

_And harder._

_And harder._

_It was really quite annoying._

_When I saw that he had sent me twelve messages, all in the last six minutes, I rolled my eyes and didn't bother to see what they said. What was the point? I already knew what most of them said. "You wanna catch a movie later?" or something else like that._

_Therefore, when I glanced at them, I was surprised to see that they didn't say that at all. Instead, he had commented on a couple of my recent pictures._

_Confused, I stared at what he had sent to me._

_"Max," Fang said suddenly from behind me, jostling me out of my stupor, "what's wrong?"_

_"You know Jared, right? Jared from our grade?" I asked, turning my head from the screen and glancing at Fang._

_"The one that keeps trying to get you to go out with him?"_

_I nodded._

_His jaw set and his grip on the computer desk tightened. "What'd he do this time?"_

_I motioned for him to come and look at the screen, rolling my chair away from the screen a little so he'd have more room. "See for yourself."_

_He gave me a quizzical look but obliged nonetheless. I watched as his expression changed—it wasn't much of a change and if it had been anyone besides someone in his family or me, they wouldn't have been able to even tell. But I could and so I knew that he was shocked at what he'd just read._

_He looked at me again but this time, instead of confused, he looked angry. "He seriously said that to you?" he asked. I nodded my head and shrugged._

_You're probably wondering what Jared the Stalker had commented on my picture. Well, if you must know, on a picture of Fang, Iggy, and I, he had said: "You're such a slut Max. How many guys have you knocked up now? You think you're so hot even though you're freaking ugly." He kept posting things like that on most of my pictures. He always wrote things like: "You try to act cool and like you're popular but every hates you, you know that? Why don't you just give up already? It's just a lost cause." And some of the _really_ mean things went along the lines of: "Nobody will ever like you. You'll never be good enough."_

_And so, as you could probably already tell, Fang wasn't too happy. Neither was I, honestly, but I wasn't so mad as I was upset. I knew that I acted tough and like nothing will hurt me a lot of times, but that wasn't necessarily true. I wasn't bullet proof, you know! Stuff like that usually didn't affect me but I guess that last comment about me "never being good enough" kind of got me…I didn't even know…What was I gonna do if petty little comments like that got me all worked up?_

"_Max, don't think about that man-whore. He's just mad you won't go out with him," Fang reassured me, looking me in the eyes, dead serious. I stared at him, one eyebrow arched, the other in a questioning position. No comment on the good enough thing?_

"_Yeah, thanks, Fang," I said, tucking my legs up to my chest, arms wrapped tight around them. Despite Fang's words, a feeling of despair settled itself comfortably at the bottom of my stomach, only to stay there for a while. I sighed and muttered, totally out of character for me, "But he's right anyways…I'll never be good enough."_

_Even though I'd said them barely audibly, he still heard. What he said next was totally _not_ something I would have expected. _Ever_._

"_Yeah, you're not good enough. You'll never be good enough…"Fang said. I looked at him, shocked, and that feeling of despair seemed to glue itself there, getting ready for a long stay in my stomach. My heart hurt and I was on the verge of crying. I was sure my expression said something like, "I thought you were supposed to be my friend!" I looked away from him, blinking back tears, trying to pull myself back together. _

"_You'll never be good enough at being a slut, or a whore, or an idiot, or ugly, or any of the things he called you," Fang finished. "You could never be those." _

_I whipped my head back over to look at him. He smiled slightly and I smiled back, wiping away the tears that had managed to break away. I sniffled and then scowled at him. I should have known that he wouldn't have said anything like that to me. How stupid was I?_

"_You scared me!" I scolded him, crossing my arms irritably at him, my lips set in a line and eyes narrowed impatiently. "Don't ever do that again. I seriously thought you were agreeing that I'm…" I didn't finish that sentence though and looked away for a second. We both knew what to fill the blank in with._

_To relieve the awkward tension in the air, I punched his arm lightly. We knew that was Max for 'Thank you.' He chuckled a little bit at my change in attitude. And, because this was Fang we were talking about, I had to laugh with him, which caused him to chuckle some more. _

_We kept up like that for a while, because I guess that the craziness of the whole situation finally caught up with us. When it did, a silence fell over us like a blanket, but it wasn't uncomfortable. It was quite nice, actually. We sat there for a while, not saying anything, just looking at each other. I smiled at him and he half-smiled back. His eyes told me that he was content. I was too, honestly._

_But regardless of that, the feeling in the pit of my stomach was still happily staying there. I was its new home. It didn't leave for a very long time. But I guess it got lonely, because later it brought friends. _

* * *

><p>I swung my feet lightly on the swing, but didn't actually get off the ground. The cool air bit at my nearly bare arms, since I had on short sleeves and it was late October at around six-ish. I wished that I had brought a jacket. But I had figured I wasn't really going to need it, considering the dance was going to takes place inside and the only time I was going to come outside was to get in and out of the car.<p>

I looked up as the moon was slowly climbing higher into the sky, the sun lowering. I hummed a song that had been stuck inside my head all day, staring up at the clouds that looked gray and heavy. It was going to rain, no doubt.

It was the night of the Halloween Dance, if you hadn't figured that out yet, and I was in my "Alice from Wonderland" costume. (Even though I had brown hair.) Which was basically just a blue dress down to my knees with a white apron and a bunch of Wonderland-like designs at the neckline. I was also wearing black Mary Janes and white stockings up to below my knees, my hair up in a bun. Nudge had fixed my hair and she had put a little bit of makeup on me, but not enough to annoy me. I wasn't originally going as Alice, but Ella and Nudge had begged, plus there was only a few other costumes that looked good and weren't too short and/or revealing.

I was waiting at my neighborhood park for Fang, since that had been were we agreed we'd met up. He was going to go as the Mad Hatter, courtesy of Nudge and Ella, once more. Of course, the outfit was made up of really only blacks and reds and dark greens, since Fang would never wear anything besides dark colors.

Unconsciously, I started tapping my feet along to the beat of the song I was humming, when a group of teenage boys—who all seemed to be around eighteen—came to the park, pushing and shoving each other around. There was one who had murky green eyes and his brown hair was messed up, but not in the cute way—not cute in the slightest. He was in front and he took the cigarette out of his mouth, puffing a whiff of it into the air in a ring.

They didn't notice me, but instead they kept walking, shouting at each other. I rolled my eyes and got up, wondering where the heck Fang was since it honestly couldn't take him that long to get there, could it? I was hoping to get passed them without being noticed but unfortunately for me, the guy in front noticed me.

Well, after I accidentally bumped into him, that is.

"Hey!" he yelled. I muttered an apology and tried to keep going but he wouldn't have any of it. He grabbed my shoulder roughly and spun me around so that I was facing him.

"I'm talking to you!" he shouted, puffing smoke into my face. After a moment, he seemed to really take in how I looked and his thin lips stretched into a grin, his eyes lighting up. But not in the good way.

"Well," he said, "what do we have here?" I tried to snatch my arm away where he had his hand, but he tightened his grip.

"Obviously, I'm a freaking _flamingo_," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. I rolled my eyes and scoffed. "Let go of me and move. Now."

He put on hand on his chin thoughtfully, "I don't think I want to. And why don't you just come with us? I promise we won't screw you over too badly," he told me, grinning that sick, sadistic grin again. I'm sure I looked absolutely revolted.

I yanked my arm away and tried to run in the other direction, but some other guy caught me before I could get very far. I ordered, clenching my teeth and balling up my fists, "Let go of me right now or I swear to God that I will kick you in the nuts so hard, even your ancestors will feel it." **(HFFN: I'll give a shout out to anyone who knows where that's from. XD)**

They just laughed. I was getting angrier and angrier by the second. _Does this crap have to happen now?_ I thought.

While the guy holding me was distracted along with everyone else, I kneed him where the sun doesn't shine just like I had promised. I always keep my promises, you know.

He groaned, bent over, and fell to the ground, letting go of me in the process. I turned around to run. The next guy who came at me got punched in the temple.

The guys started coming at me. I knew I couldn't take them all on my own, so I screamed at the top of my lungs. "RAPE! RAPE! HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

I could take one of them fine. Two? Probably, though I'd be kind of tired. Three? Maybe, depending on how good they are and if they're wasted or not. But six? Oh, HECK no—not alone at least. Or not now at least. An adrenaline rush would sure help a lot.

I kept screaming while fighting them off. The guy with those disgusting green eyes threw a punch at my jaw, but I dogged it, knelt down, and swept my foot under his legs, making him fall to the ground on his side with a grunt. That didn't do much to stun him though and he snarled and got right back up again.

"HELP! RAPE, RAPE! SOMEBODY HELP!" I kept screaming over and over. Surely someone would have heard me by then, right?

Well, no one came for what felt like forever. After a couple of minutes, Thug Number 4 was down. I kneed him in the nuts (that always works) and had given him a pretty nasty cut, if I do say so myself. He tripped and hit his head on the metal part of the kiddy slide. Thug Number 2, 3, 1, and 5 were still up though. Two down—four to go.

I was getting more tired by the second, where as these guys didn't seem to ever wear out. It was like they were running on everlasting batteries. My breath was slowing and my heart was pumping louder and louder—not in the good way that Fang makes it though. I was just completely running on adrenaline at that point.

But I most certainly wasn't about to give up. Maximum Ride never. Gives. Up. Ever. I wasn't about to this time just because some dense jerks decided to waltz along and try to freaking rape me. Nuh-uh. I was going to teach them a lesson. By the time I was done, they would never even think about doing something so vile again.

* * *

><p><strong>FANG'S POV:<strong>

* * *

><p>I swear to God that there was actually a <em>reason<em> that I was late picking Max up for the dance. I didn't just ditch.

I had gotten home from school, done my homework, relaxed a little, taken a nap, and was about to get ready to leave for the dance when my parents decided to drop a bomb on me, kind of ruining my night and just about everything else for the next couple of months.

"Fang!" My mom called from the kitchen as I ran down the stairs two at a time, putting on my windbreaker as I went. I nearly tripped coming down but managed to catch myself so I didn't face plant. "Fang, your father and I need to tell you something."

I gave her a curious look, but shrugged and went along with it. Iggy, Angel, and Gazzy were already seated in the living room, looking confused. Iggy was on the couch next to Gazzy and Angel sat on the floor next to Iggy's feet.

"What's going on?" I asked suspiciously. Mom and Dad shared a look and wouldn't meet any of our eyes. "Mom," I pushed. She sighed and told my to sit down. I made myself as comfortable as I could on the armrest.

"We have some…news," she announced, not sounding at all happy about it. Her normally bright eyes were upset and kind of…ashamed? I couldn't tell—and her hair was a mess, tugged from her bun out of stress. She always played with her hair when she was nervous or stressed out.

Iggy and I looked at each other as if for answers and asked simultaneously, "What news?" like most twins do.

Mom bit her lip and told Dad to tell us. Of course Dad—he was normally the bearer of bad news. He sent her a look like, "why me?" but obliged anyways because Mom always seemed to have more control over him then he did over her.

He took a deep breath and started talking. "I got a job proposal."

No one said anything. The kids looked puzzled.

"It pays well and it's a fantastic offer."

Still, no one said anything. We held our breaths. Iggy and I both knew what that would probably mean.

"It's in LA."

There it was.

Even though we knew it was coming, Iggy and I still jumped to our feet and yelled at the same time, "WHAT?" while the kids looked bewildered and kind of heartbroken.

"We have to move?" Angel's small voice asked timidly. Her crystal blue eyes shown with unshed tears and her face screwed up like she was about to cry. It wouldn't have been a surprise if she started. Gazzy looked shell-shocked, eyes wide, mouth hanging open. We all loved it there and moving all the way across the country really wasn't going to help anything. Tennessee to LA? Not our first preference. I really wished they hadn't told us before I'd left to go to the dance. That pretty much ruined my night. The whole dance was really just going to be me, freaking out, mind whirling.

Once I'd managed to speak, I asked quietly, "When?"

Dad looked down but answered anyways. "Four months. We won't leave until February at the least, but your mother and I thought it would be better to tell you sooner." All of us shared a look of despair now—even me. After that, I really had no desire to go do anything but I actually really wanted to see Max. I couldn't bail on her though. What kind of a friend would I be then? So I got ready and made my way there. I knew she'd probably already be at the park but I didn't think anything _bad_ would occur. Honestly, how often does that kind of stuff happen around here? Not very.

So I was definitely _not_ expecting to see a bunch of tough looking muggers surrounding her when I arrived at the park.

I was also not expecting her to be completely kicking their butts into next Tuesday.

I knew Max was tough and that she could absolutely take care of herself, but come on! Four older, over sized, buff guys against one, small, younger girl? You wouldn't really bet all of your money on the girl, now would you?

But then again, this was _Max_ we were talking about. She was unquestionably crazy and full of surprises. While I'd known that she was a fantastic fighter, especially for her size and age, I hadn't known she'd had it in her to mercilessly pulverize them into the ground. The one thing that had always been her weakness was sympathy. She over-sympathized for people. Someone could be a total d-bag to her, but sooner or later, she would forgive them because she had thought it over too much. Now, that being said, she could still hold a grudge—she was as stubborn as a bull—but she'd always acknowledge that they were still a person.

I stood there for a while, staring as she punched the living daylights out of them. I didn't know what exactly I was supposed to do; she didn't need any help, it seemed. In a matter of minutes, every single one of them was either unconscious or had fled. I saw two other guys on the ground around her that I guess she had knocked out before I arrived.

That girl never ceased to amaze me. (Yet another reason why I loved her.)

She dusted the little bit of dirt off of her dress and turned around sharply, looking very proud of herself, as you can imagine. When she saw me, her brown eyes lit up like they always seem to do and she smiled, showing a little bit of her teeth.

I gave a small wave and made that awkward face. She laughed. For all of you who don't know what Max's laugh sounds like, it's like chimes or bells: beautiful. I pushed the thought that I might not hear her laugh again to the back of my head and tried not to think about it much. "Hey!" She greeted cheerily, more so than I think she should have been.

"Hey yourself," I replied, stuffing my hands in my jean pockets, leaning against the passenger side door of my old pick up truck.

She frowned slightly and her eyebrows furrowed a little bit. God, I loved it when she did that. "What took you so long? You know that I nearly got raped, right?"

My eyes widened slightly and my eyebrows went up a little—my version of utter shock. I asked her dumbly, "Those guys you just beat up tried to rape you?"

She shrugged as if it were normal and shifted her weight to her other foot. I could tell that she didn't really like the shoes she was being forced to wear. For once, I was trying to think really only about how good she looked instead of the fact that we would be moving. She said, "Meh. Something like that. They implied it several times, but, of course, I never let them get to try." She smiled cheekily, batting her eyes just because she could. It added to the (sarcastic) angelic look. "But that put aside, seriously—what took you so long?"

My expression went back to its normal indifference. I shrugged one shoulder and said as casually as I could manage, "I kind of overslept."

"At six in the afternoon?"

"I was napping, okay?" I told her, somewhat defensively. It wasn't my fault Iggy and I were babysitting Angel and Gazzy all night before, and then I had to stay up past midnight to study for our stupid science test the next day. "I didn't get any sleep last night." And that wasn't a _complete_ lie. I had stayed up until 2:00 AM the night before…and I had taken and nap and stayed asleep for longer than I wanted, but that wasn't the full reason. I wasn't _lying_; I just wasn't telling the full-truth, okay?

She rolled her eyes playfully and shoved pass me, hopping into my beat-down car. Some called it crap (coughIggycough), but I called it my baby. It was old and rusted and the supposed-to-be dark blue paint was chipping off so badly, you could hardly tell what the color used to be. The seats were torn and ripped so that it often got uncomfortable and one of the seat-belts in the back was broken. The window shield was cracking and there was a small dent on the passenger seat's door.

I loved that car.

I got in with her and we had to wait a bit before my truck would start. She didn't usually complain about it, but sometimes she would, if only to annoy me. She knew that I didn't really have any money to spend on a new car. (It was my dad's.) We'd just have to stick with that one.

Once I had pulled out of the parking lot and we were finally getting to the dance, Max informed me indifferently, "So apparently there's this new girl coming to our school after Fall Break."

And, if you didn't know, the last day before Fall Break was also the day of the dance. We got a week off before we had to go back to school.

I nodded and she continued. "I think someone said that her name is, um…Brenda? Brianna? …It was something that started with a 'B', I know that much. But anyways, she's moving from Virginia, according to everyone that I have talked to…but that's just a rumor, so I could be exceedingly wrong for all I know."

I nodded again and glanced at her face, still trying to keep my mind away from my dad's job offer.

She was staring at the road in front of us and I could tell she was calculating something in her head. Her cheeks were a light shade of pink from the cold weather and the chill outside. She chewed on her lip, deep in thought, like I'd seen her do so many times before. There were a few golden-brown strings of hair falling into her face from where her bun had collapsed a little and she blew them out of her eyes irritably. She didn't seem to be very tired, though I could still see that she was a bit worn out from basically murdering four guys at the same time.

_God_, she was attractive.

_Hormones—stop freaking out,_ I thought.

I was surprised at how..._natural_ she was acting about how she nearly had gotten sexual assaulted by a couple of jerk-butts with nothing else to do in their spare time. Maybe it was because she'd pretty much scarred them up so bad, they'd never even consider doing it again. Maybe it was because that didn't normally happen around here, and the chances of it happening again were slim to none. Maybe it was because it was _Max_ we're talking about and, as you know, she's unquestionably crazy and full of surprises, even after eleven years.

* * *

><p><strong>MAX'S POV:<strong>

* * *

><p>Fang had been acting very distant ever since he arrived at the park. He seemed to fidget more and he seemed very isolated, left in thought. I wondered what was bothering him but I knew that he'd tell me if it were really bad so I didn't push just yet. The time for that was later. I didn't want to ruin the night with my nosy-ness.<p>

The dance was going to be held in the school's gym, with lights strung up and music playing. It was good as far as school dances go—not fantastic, but not incredibly bad either.

To my utter horror, Lissa was there with her date what's-his-face. She was wearing some skimpy angel costume that barely covered any skin. The "dress" was more like a normal, tight shirt that showed way too much cleavage. God, I hated that.

Nudge was there too, dressed in a cute goddess outfit that Ella and I had helped her pick out. Her normally puffy, brown hair was straightened and running down her back, nearly to he waist. She didn't have a lot of makeup on—she didn't need any—but the little amount that she did looked fantastic, only wearing wing-tip eyeliner, mascara, and gray eye shadow. Her feet were clad in golden gladiator sandals that I knew for a fact she already owned and she seemed to be having a great time with her date Josh, who had asked her at the last minute.

She beamed at us when she saw Fang and I walk through the gym doors. I bet we looked like a couple, dressed in matching Alice in Wonderland costumes—me as Alice, him as the Mad Hatter. I wondered what he thought of it. 'Course, you could rarely tell what he was thinking when he had a wall up.

Which he normally did, by the way.

When Lissa saw us, she told her date to go…do something (I don't have super hearing) and rushed over, looking excited. But, of course, only to see a certain emo boy of ours.

"Fang!" she gushed perkily, flashing him an award winning smile, flipping her red hair over her shoulder, and tugging on his hand. I glared at her.

She ignored me besides mouthing, "Shut up, b****."

I only censor for the children.

In return I smiled defiantly and waved with sarcastic delight, saying in a thick valley girl accent, "It's like, so nice to, like, see you too, Lissa," and then rolling my eyes in disgust.

Fang looked incredibly uncomfortable with the situation as she clung onto him like ugly on an ape, flirting so obviously that I wanted to puke. Hello! Her date was standing ten feet away from us! She didn't actually expect him to deal with that, did she?

But apparently she did, because she kept on to Fang, while he wouldn't make eye contact with her. His eyes were usually trained on the ceiling or sometimes on me. At one point while Lissa was chattering on about something, he mouthed, "Help me!" I just shrugged in reply. Every time he tried to slip out of her grasp, she would clutch his arm tighter and tighter.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. Her stupid obsession for my (admittedly attractive) guy friend was getting on my nerves, especially since she really only liked him for his looks and not anything else. I scoffed at her and yanked her hand off of my best friend's arm with all my might, shoving her away and into the wall behind her. "How many times does he have to reject you before you get it through your thick skull that he DOESN'T LIKE YOU?" I all but screamed, frustrated. The last thing I wanted was for Lissa to be all over him the whole night.

She rolled her eyes at me and sighed, fake inspecting her manicured fingers as if out of boredom. "So melodramatic, Maxine. Like, seriously, take a chill pill."

I gave her a look, eyes flashing with anger, and growled out, almost like a dog, "My name is not Maxine. You shut up and leave. Now."

She smirked but left. On her way back to what's-his-face, she gripped my shoulder hard (like, too hard. That girl is pretty strong for someone who has never lifted a finger) and told me something in a hushed voice that made me cringe and see red spots. "Oh, and for the record—he _doesn't like you_. He'll _never_ like you. Why would he? He's _waaaay_ out of your league, _sweetheart_," she spat out and then walked away, swaying her hips for Fang's attention, waving her fingers at him as she went.

I scowled at her retreating figure, wishing to wipe that stupid smirk off of her stupid face before I punched the crap out of her, because we all know that I'm not above that.

I growled again while Fang stood to the side, looking amused. He gave me a look, almost like, "What was that?" but I just told him to shut up about it. He gave me a miniscule half-smile and I couldn't help but grin a little bit back, even if I was still pretty pissed at Lissa for…you know, being Lissa.

After that, we just kind of hung around for a while. When she wasn't with Josh, Nudge would come over to us and just chatter a bit, usually about how fantastic her date was. He seemed pretty nice, too, from what I'd heard from her.

"He's pretty awesome and polite and funny—let's not forget funny. I bet you guys would get along. You know, I was kind of afraid that no one would ask me—I mean, no one asked Ella but we all know that if Iggy would just grow up and be a man than he would definitely ask her out but since he can't seem to actually do anything about his very obvious crush on her than they're…"

Iggy and Ella hadn't come because Iggy didn't have the nerve to ask Ella out—as you just heard—and Ella had stuff to do. She'd originally planned on just going without a date (people do that all the time!) but stuff came up and she had to baby-sit for her neighbors.

There was a tap on my shoulder and I turned around sharply to see Fang. He bent down a bit since he was taller than me, and told me quietly, "I'm gonna go outside for a little fresh air, okay?"

I nodded and then proposed, "Oh! Why don't I come with you?" but he told me that it was okay and he kind of wanted to be alone for a few moments. I nodded slower this time, a little confused, but let him have his space. It was weird—he usually let me knew every thing that was going on and likewise, but…he seemed to be holding something back. I wondered briefly what it was before Nudge had me come hang out with her and Josh.

When he didn't come back for a while, I started to worry. So I told Nudge that I'd be back in a few and left to go talk to him. I was also searching for at least a _little_ bit of answers.

"Fang?" I called while I walked down the hallway. It was weird being in the halls when school was out, with the lights turned off and not a single noise coming from anywhere, besides the sound of a piano drifting through from the chorus room—

Wait. What?

I stopped and pressed my ear up against the door. The tiny window thing was blocked up with a sheet of gray paper so I couldn't see inside, but I could definitely hear the sound of music and singing coming from there. The only lyrics I could make out went along the lines of, "_And the feeling that I'm falling further in love/Makes me shiver/But in a good way…_" It sounded oddly familiar, but I wasn't sure where it was from. Either way, it sounded extraordinary.

As slowly as I could manage, I cracked the door open and peeped into the room. The music was obviously much louder now and I could definitely tell whom the voice belonged to.

Curious, I walked through the door and saw Mr. Tall, Dark, and Silent himself, standing in front of a fancy-sch-mancy electric piano, hands gliding across the keys like it were natural, singing. Yes, Fang was _singing_. And the lyrics he was singing went like this, "_'Cause I lover her with all that I am/And my voice shakes along with my hands/And it's frightening to be/Swimming in this strange sea/But I'd rather be here than on land/'Cause she's all that I see/And she's all that I need/And I'm out of my league once again."_

When he finished, I stood there in awe for a moment before I started clapping quietly, startling Fang. He jumped and spun around, hand hitting a couple of keys, making the sound echo around the nearly silent room.

I smiled slightly. "Hey," I greeted quietly, because for some reason, I always feel the need to be quiet when there's no talking going on.

"Hey yourself," he said back, shifting his weight to his right leg uneasily, and I swear I saw him blushing. But then I blinked and it was gone, because this was _Fang_ we were talking about, remember? He was as emotionless as a brick wall 1/3 of the time. But that was okay because if he wasn't emotionless, then he wouldn't have been Fang, now would he?

"That was a pretty song," I complimented, walking towards him and sitting down on the piano bench while he stayed standing.

"Uh, thanks," he said, rubbing the back of his neck almost shyly. Except—Fang isn't shy. Ever. So that was out of the picture.

"Did you write it or…what?" I questioned him, fingering some of the piano keys just out of boredom. I didn't press down too hard on them though, because we all know that I wasn't the best at piano. But the more I thought about it, the more writing seemed like playing the piano. Your fingers across the piano keys compared to your fingers across a computer keyboard…Practically the same thing. You're telling a tale in both. You have to hit certain ones in a certain order for it to make any sense and tell a story.

"Um…I wrote it," he answered, sitting down on the bench again, setting his hands on a couple of the keys and playing a random melody gently. The bench wasn't made for two people so our leg and arms were touching, sending shocks up my spine and making my heartbeat quicken. I was hyper aware of everything, including how my shoes were suffocating my feet and how my chin was about level with his shoulders. Wow. Was he really that much taller than me? It felt like just yesterday he'd been this skinny little pole, the same height as me. We'd always been the same height up until he turned thirteen—that's when he shot up past me. It was really rather annoying, actually. I voiced my thoughts to Fang and he just let the corner of his lips come up in a small half-grin.

I suddenly wondered if he could tell what I was thinking. Could he see that I was actually kind of…_nervous_ sitting so close to him? Could he tell that my heart was beating in my chest like an African drum? Could he tell how perplexed I was about my whole situation? I guessed not, because he didn't show a single sign of it.

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be relieved or disappointed.

Abruptly, Fang broke the silence by clearing his throat and saying, "Max?"

I looked at him and responded with a, "Yeah?" He had that wall down again and I could tell that he was upset over something.

"I, um," he paused, not sure of something, but then went up to the shark tooth that always hung around his neck. "I wanted to give this to you," he continued, lifting the chain from his head.

My eyebrows creased in confusion. "What?" I said dumbly as he put it over my head. "But…what? No! This is yours! It's, like, your most priced possession! I can't accept this!" I protested, bringing it back over, attempting to return it to him. I knew how much that thing meant to him. I couldn't possibly keep it.

But he stopped me by taking my hand and holding it tight. "No, I'm serious. I want you to keep it."

I stopped protesting and looked at his face.

He looked normal—black hair a mess but in a cute way, eyes still as dark as ever, but his expression was of someone who was extremely troubled. His eyes…still dark, but…Oh God…

"Why?" It was kind of like I was in a trance. I allowed him to continue to hold my hand—it felt nice. Safe. Natural, even.

He seemed stressed over whatever it was and lowered his head, not meeting my eyes anymore. He didn't say anything for a while, but he brought my hands up to his cheek. I let them stay there while he took a couple of deep breaths, bracing himself for whatever it was. I braced myself too, though I wouldn't have guessed what he said next.

There was a long time of silence while he composed himself. Then he uttered the two words that shattered my whole being for a long while. Too long, actually.

"I'm moving."

"WHAT?" I yelled, eyes going wide, hands leaving his face. My mouth fell open and I jumped from my spot on the bench. I had gone into panic mode for sure. You'd be crazy if you didn't realize that. "You-you can't be! No! Wait. What? What? I don't even—w-why is this happening?" I stuttered, trying my hardest to get out something understandable. "Ooh…" I groaned, covering my mouth with my left hand and my right hand clutching a couple locks of hair that had fallen from my bun, tugging on them as if it would help anything.

Fang got up from his seat too and pulled me into a hug. I laid my head against his chest and curled up into him. I was originally planning on forcing myself to keep strong and not cry, but that was proven to be very hard when a thought like, "What if I never get to do this again?" entered my head while I was wrapped in his arms.

_Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God—here come the water works…_I thought as my eyes start to sting with unshed tears. I squeezed my eyes shut as tight as I could and attempted to blink back the tears, but it was confirmed that no matter how tight my eyes were shut closed, tears could still leak out. And that's exactly what they did; they streaked down my face in a very unpleasant manner. Sooner rather than later, I gave into the urge, and sobs racked my body like hundreds of mallets pounding down on me, one by one. I clutched and pulled on my hair like it would do any good, but unfortunately for me, it didn't.

Fang rubbed soothing circles on my back in between my shoulder blades, saying something softly that I couldn't make out. But it's calming and for a while gets me to nearly stop crying—and then I started thinking things like, "I'll probably never get to do this again either, will I?" and I started weeping again. I was absolutely sure that his shirt was going to be completely soaked by the time I finished with my little drama queen moment. I hoped that he wouldn't say anything about it.

Oh my God, oh my God. My best friend was moving. What was I going to do? We hadn't been separated since we first met, eleven years ago! What would I do without my best friend right there beside me every moment of every day, like he had been for every moment of every day since we were little kids? Oh, God, oh, God…

"When?" I asked, nearly too quietly to be heard, once my crying had died down and I was able to form comprehendible words without choking up.

He continued to rub my back and one hand stroked my hair now that I wasn't holding onto it for dear life. My arms were curled up to my chest, my shoulders hunched in but not uncomfortably. It felt nice to be there with him and I suddenly wished that this had been happening without the whole "moving" dilemma.

"Four months at the least," Fang said. I breathed a sigh of relief. We still had some time. Thank the good Lord.

"Oh thank God," I mumbled into his shoulders. He chuckled slightly, almost cynically, and I felt it vibrate through his chest. "Just don't think about it," he said.

I nodded and closed my eyes, contented in his embrace, not wanting to leave. I guess he didn't get that part though, because he asked me suddenly, breaking the silence like a thin sheet of ice: "Do you want to go back now? Nudge is probably wondering what happened to us."

I groaned but lifted my head up from his chest, staring in his eyes tiredly. I sighed heavily. "You're probably right…but I don't want to."

He half-smiled and pulled me away from him, holding my arms and then sliding his hands down to mine so he was holding them like before, making me shiver against my own will.

I play-scowled at him for making me move. "Do we_ haaaaaavvvvee_ to?" I muttered, rubbing my eyes and trying to dry my face since it hadn't dried up fully yet. I was positive my eyes were puffy and kind of red and I was pretty sure that my cheeks were a shade of pink with tear tracks running all down them. My hair was out of its bun by then and my makeup was utterly ruined, no doubt. There probably wasn't a single drop of liquid eyeliner on then. But I didn't really care all that much, to be honest.

Fang smirked slightly at my appearance and handed me a tissue from the teacher's desk, to wipe away all of the makeup that had smeared. My shoes still felt very, very uncomfortable, like they were trying to strangle my feet or something.

On our way out of the chorus room, I fiddled with the chain around my neck, staring at the tooth. I'd felt the smooth surface of it so many times but only while it was around his neck, not my own and it felt almost…_wrong_ to be wearing it. It was almost like I was betraying him, but he grinned at me when I looked up at him and didn't look at all hurt that I was wearing it, so I passed the feeling off as nothing.

I still didn't quite understand why he gave it to me—he wasn't leaving for another four months. Plus, what would be the point in leaving it with me? For something for me to remember him by? I could never have forgotten him anyway. He was my frigging _best friend_. Best friends don't forget other best friends just because they move away, no matter how far. I'd always remember him. And anyways—even if I wanted to forget, there was too much evidence of his presence for me to just let it go. Nicholas "Fang" Walker would never leave that easily.

* * *

><p><strong>HFFN: Out of character Max is out of character.<strong>

**RW: ...Ignoring that, I must tell you guys: reviews make us update faster! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**MAX'S POV:**

"Apart from this whole world that_—" my fingers slipped. Ugh. I started over. "_Apart from this whole world that shares—" _I couldn't remember what the chord was. _

"_UGH!" I yelled, frustrated, and I set my ukulele down next to me on my bed. I looked at my hands for a moment, trying to remember what that last chord at "_shares my fate_" was. My fingers were really sore, raw even, from playing for two hours straight and my hand was cramping like heck. I was in the midst of trying to learn the song "Be My Escape" by _Relient K_, but it was getting pretty hard. I'd only started learning ukulele two weeks before then so I wasn't particularly good at it either. The chords kept getting jumbled up in my head and I couldn't remember some of them when it came time to play the song.  
>I sighed and put my head in my hands, my elbows set on my knees. My heels were digging into the little bit of frame from my bed that wasn't covered by the mattress, but it wasn't uncomfortably so. I was in that mood of despair—I really just wanted to give up on trying. I knew I wouldn't though; I loved playing too much to give it up. I needed to work on the harder stuff or I was never going to get any better. <em>

_There was a knock on my door. "It's unlocked," I groaned into my hands, not bothering to look up. I felt someone sit down next to me but I still didn't move. I heard them pick up my ukulele and play a chord or two for a moment before saying, "Learning a new song?" _

_I nodded my head in reply. _

_Fang played a little bit of _"_I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You_" _by _The Black Kids_, probably out of boredom, since I'd taught him that one. _

"The word's on the street and it's on the news

I'm not gonna teach him how to dance with you!

He's got two left feet and he bites my moves

I'm not gonna teach him how to

Dance, dance, dance!"

_I joined in on the last line, resting my hands on my knees instead. Fang grinned his signature Mona Lissa Grin, holding my ukulele out to me. I smiled a little, taking it from him, but instead of playing anything like I knew he probably was expecting, I set it behind me and turned to him. _

"I can't get G/B right," I informed him miserably. "Every time I get to that dang line, my hand slips and it makes an awful noise that tends to mess the entire song up." I groaned again, cracking my knuckles and fingers. My hand was still cramped. "Ugh."

"Why don't you take a break and practice something else?" he suggested. I gave him a look. "Oh, you only what me to do that so you get to hear me sing," I accused. He only shrugged, not denying anything. I rarely let anyone hear me sing and apparently he liked it when I did. I didn't have a single clue why—it's not like I was a fantastic singer or anything. I was just…average.

But I obliged anyway, partially because I kind of wanted to, and partially because I promised a while ago that he'd get to hear. I brought the ukulele from behind me and set my fingers into position. I started strumming, though gently and quietly.

"I was unafraid

I was a boy

I was a tender age

Melic in the naked

Knew a lake

Between lofts for page

Hurdle all the weightings up

Know it wasn't waited love, why

Four long minute's end and it was over

It'll all be back

And the frost took up the eyes

Pressed against the pain

Could see the veins

And there was poison out

Resting in a raise, the inner claims

I hadn't breath to shake

Searching for an inner clout

May not take another but why?

Honey in the hail, could see the pails

Of loving less with fame

But it wasn't yet the spring

Aiming and it sunk and we were drunk

And we had fleshed it out

Nose up in the groves, you never know

If you are passing out

No, it wasn't maiden up, the falling

Or defeated luck, why?

Oooh

Hung up in the ivory, both were climbing

For a finer cause

Love could hardly leave the room…

…With your heart

Oooh

Oooh

Ooooh…"

_I finished, looking down shyly, feeling my cheeks heat up, and setting my rather beloved instrument behind me. Fang clapped quietly, so as not to wake Mom up, since she was taking a nap. She had stayed at work pretty late the night before and needed to rest a little. I didn't want to wake her. "That was 'Michicant' by Bon Iver, right?" He inquired. I nodded a little, having expected him to recognize it. He was actually the one who introduced me to that band. You'd think he would rather listen to bands like Blood On the Dance Floor or Black Veil Brides, but he didn't usually. Shocker, I know._

_I grinned a little and then stared expectantly at my friend. "Whatchya wanna do now?"_

_He shrugged, leaning back in his palms. I nodded my head once, and then got from the bed. I set my iPhone on its dock, switching through my music to find a particular song. When I found it, I smiled and turned it on, though quietly, since, you know….Mom and all. The song was "Happy" by Secrets in the Stereo._

_There was a pause before the music started playing and I sat down into my computer chair, spinning around a couple times, just because I could. I did a lot of things without a real reason, honestly. I liked small things like that because the significance of it doesn't seem very important at the time, but when you look back at it, that's the kind of thing you always recall the most; the little things. Whenever my mum talked about my dad, she'd rarely tell me the huge things. It was always something like how on their anniversary; he'd always buy her roses—pink ones, not red, and always exactly six. Or how he'd always bite his lip when he was thinking something over. Or if you want another example: how he always pushed his old glasses up his nose and then brought them down again._

_Oh, Lord, I'm starting to sound sentimental and jazz, aren't I?_

_…_

_Anyways._

_"Max?"_

_My head snapped over to the door. My mom stood in the doorway, looking sleepy; her hair messed up, her work clothes still on. Except she had her blue fluffy slippers on as apposed to her heels. "Awww, I'm sorry, Mum. I didn't mean to wake up you," I apologized, turning the music off for a moment. She just smiled and told me that it was fine—I didn't wake her up, she woke on her own. I nodded but still felt bad nonetheless._

_So you're probably still confused about the whole situation with my dad, right? When I mentioned my first meeting with the Walkers' a while back, it never said anything about little Maxine's father, did it? Well, as you know, there's a reason for that. My dad died right after I was born, when I was just a couple months old. It was supposedly a car crash, but sometimes I think that it's a little more than that—and that thought is actually more of a gut feeling. My gut feelings are usually right though._

_So…yeah…he died. My mom loved him dearly, with all her heart, and when I was little—right after he passed—when Mom was getting me to bed, I would always ask her to tell me about him. I would beg and beg and beg each night for her to tell me exactly how they met. She'd just smiled and laugh, though both had a bittersweet undertone, and she'd tell me over and over the same story, her eyes a little upset. Somehow, I never got tired of that story. I had it memorized by the age of six and could tell it word-from-word to anyone who asked—not that anyone really did. If I had been a little older, I would've realized that it pained her to have to tell me every single night, but I was only a kid. And by the age of eight or nine, I had noticed that little fact, and had stopped asking her to tell me all the time. After then, we rarely ever brought the subject up. But I still remembered every word from it._

* * *

><p>Even though Fall Break is a week—really only five days, but who honestly cares? —It felt like one day. I didn't do much. I just hung out at home and with my friends and tried to not worry too much about things. Though that ended up being incredibly hard, I managed through the five days without schoolwork to distract my worried mind.<p>

"Okay, class, I want you all to make her feel welcome here—she just moved from South Carolina a couple of weeks ago and she's not used to this school. You need to be on your best behavior and try to be nice. Alright?" The teacher said emotionlessly as if he'd said it a billion times before. His eyelids were drooping like he was about to fall asleep and his dull gray eyes were looking, uninterested, at us. I raised an eyebrow in amusement to myself, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms over my chest after pushing some rather bothersome hair out of my way.

Fang glanced at me from his desk beside me, also with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked as impassive as ever, but his eyes were grinning so I smiled back whole-heartedly. Giving him an entertained look, I mouthed, "Teachers," rolling my eyes and giving a small shake of my head as if in disappointment. He grinned and shrugged almost sarcastically. I went back to paying semi-attention as the teacher stepped towards the door and swung it open.

A girl my age with platinum blonde hair down to her collarbone and bright, happy blue eyes that were lined with black eyeliner walked in the room. But for once, the makeup wasn't overdone—as apposed to most of the female population at my school. Her face was only adorned with a little bit—pink lip-gloss, eyeliner, and purple-and-gray eye shadow. She was wearing a pink, beige, and black pencil skirt down to mid thigh, open toed, what-looked-to-be three-inch high heels, and a white blouse with ruffles along the top, showing a little cleavage but not enough for her to be considered sleazy. On her left hand was a ring studded with small red rubies—I figured it was her birthstone or something or another. She plastered a blinding white smile on her face, dimples showing, and waved in greeting to the class. She shifted the pink messenger bag on her shoulder a little bit and stared back at the class with curious (and slightly nervous) eyes. For some reason, I decided that I didn't really like her that much. She didn't seem like a terrible person…just kind of…I didn't know…annoying maybe? Meh. I didn't think about it too much. I was going with my gut feeling. And, not to toot my own horn or anything, but my gut feelings were usually right.

No one seemed to be able to take their eyes away from her—at least the _guys_ couldn't. Some of the girls only glanced up for a moment and then went back to doing whatever it was they were doing, bored. I saw some guys in the back staring at her like she was some sort of new plaything, their eyes lighting up in a disgustingly perverted way, seeming to be mentally undressing her.

I mentally rolled my eyes at them.

Scoffing at some boys' idiocy, I turned away from her and didn't look up again as the teacher introduced us to her. His voice was noticeably more refined but still had a bored tint to it. "Class, this is Brigid Dwyer. Say hello."

No one said hello.

The teacher cleared his throat, looking irritably back at us. "Say hello_,"_ he ordered, sounding more intimidating and also more frustrated.

We said hello.

He gave his version of a smile—more of a grimace—slightly happier with our response and then he returned to deal with Miss Brigid Dwyer. "You may sit anywhere you'd like that's open." She smiled blindingly again and nodded politely, muttering a thank you. I glanced up at her almost suspiciously as she looked around the class, narrowing my eyes slightly at her. I was about to assume that there weren't actually any more seats and therefore, she would have a bit of a problem—when I saw her eyes land on Fang…and not falter for a moment as she walked towards him. I was about to question her about what the heck she was doing when I realized that the only seat open was next to him.

Well, that's just _great_. Flipping fantastic.

Fang glanced at her for a moment longer than usual and she blushed, smiling bashfully instead of confidently like she had been earlier. I wondered in the back of my head why I was acting so jealous of her, but still didn't think much of it. I was just…annoyed. Yeah. That was it. So I let that envious feeling be.

Mr. Emo Pants didn't notice my irritable mood until about halfway through the class, when I was tapping my pencil loudly against the desk out of habit while the teacher kept droning on and on and on about something I couldn't care any less about.

A folded piece of notebook paper fluttered onto my desk in front of me. I sighed slightly and shuffled my hands under the small table, careful to not make much noise while I opened it. The teacher wouldn't catch me, but I was afraid that one of the students might.

In Fang's messy scrawl that I'd come to like so much, it said:

_What's wrong? You've been kinda moody all morning. _

I glanced at him subconsciously, but he wasn't even looking in my direction; his eyes were trained on the teacher like he was paying attention, but we all know that he wasn't. I quickly jotted down a response, not caring so much of whether or not the teacher was coming near us. He often liked to pace while he talked but I didn't care much if he caught us anyway.

_I'm not moody! And it's nothing. Just bored is all._

I flicked it over to him quickly, hitting his cheek on the way since I kind of…you know, aimed it there. He glared half-heartedly at me, me smiling cheekily in return, before reading my reply.

The rest of our conversation went like this:

_You sure? _

_Yes. _

_It seems like a lot more than "nothing"…_

_It might _seem_ like that, but it's not, Fangles. _

_Seriously. What is it?_

_It's none of your business anyway…:| _

…

_You can continue to pester me. Or you can just label it "PMS"—it's your choice. _

…_Whatever. _

_This would be frigging embarrassing if the teacher read this aloud. _

_You know that he doesn't care that much. _

_Yeah, I know. But if this were Mr. Bonne or someone or another…*shudder* _

_Mr. Bonne hates you. _

_No. Really? I _never_ would have guessed with him _glaring_ at me _24/7_ and purposefully embarrassing me in front of the whole class. _

_: P_

_^e^_

_That's not an emoticon…_

_I made it up, doofus. _

But he didn't get a chance to reply because after that, I heard the teacher announce that we had a little bit of time left to just talk and stuff. And after that, Brigid Dwyer decided that she'd start a conversation with Fang. "Standing behind my best friend awkwardly while a random girl flirts with him" wouldn't exactly be on my Top Ten Favorite Things To Do list if I, you know, actually had one. I tried to join in on what they were talking about at some point but she left me no room because it was about some show that I'd never heard of until then.

Surprisingly, Fang responded. In full sentences. Like, what the heck? I wouldn't have been so P.O'd about her flirting with him if he hadn't been obviously returning that with pleasant feedback.

_Wait…why am I acting so jealous of her? She's a perfectly fine, perfectly acceptable girl who just so happens to be taking a hint of a fancy to my some-what-admittedly hot best friend. At least she isn't some slut who can't take a hint. Maybe she'll end up being my friend. Maybe Fang will finally decide to get a girlfriend._

(Since, you see, Fang had only had one girlfriend before—Maria, who had to transfer schools—even though he had just about every single female in the school chasing after him. I wasn't ever sure why he decided to not date. At sixteen, it's not like it was too young to date.)

I sighed and stuffed my hands in the pocket of my sweatshirt, leaning against my chair a little. After a moment more of pure boredom, I sighed again—except that time louder—and pulled my writing journal from my backpack. I flipped it open to my page and pulled a red pen out too. I sat down and tapped my chin with the pen thoughtfully, staring off into space. I took me a second, but I did start writing.

I was really just making a journal entry, except in a story format—I wrote down what exactly was going through my head, what I thought of the Walker's move, and what had been going on and a bunch of other things that I know you couldn't care any less to hear in detail about. So I'll continue the story like normal.

I was so in to my journal entry/story that I didn't notice when the bell rang and people started filing out of the classroom. I'm not exactly sure how I managed to continue to be completely oblivious to the loud chatter, but I did. So I just kept jotting down note after note after note after note…you get the idea. I was on a roll—a roll that I hadn't been on in quite some time, if you wanted to know—and I was flipping excited about it. After a moment, there was a tap on my shoulder and my eyes snapped up to see none other than Fang.

And Brigid was standing next to him.

Oh joy.

I blinked twice, realizing that we were the last people in the room and I'd be late to 2nd period if I didn't hurry my lazy butt up. I shuffled out of my seat quietly, stuffing the notebook into my backpack hurriedly and swinging it over my shoulder. They followed me out the door but I had to branch off from them after then. Before I left, I heard Brigid say to him: "Do you think that you could walk me to class? I think we have 2nd period together too," and Fang replying: "That'd be great."

And when I looked back, they were standing awfully close to each other, staring at her schedule—well, Fang was at least. Brigid was staring at _him_. For some reason, this made my blood boil slightly. I wasn't sure why her staring all of the sudden made me mad. I mean, girls stared at my best friend constantly, and it never made me mad before…Maybe it was because this time, he seemed to like her back, whereas he never had any interest in the other girls who spent all of their time obsessing over him.

"Stop it Max," I muttered to myself, flicking my own arm in displeasure at my uncharacteristically jealous attitude, "you have no reason to act like this. She isn't a terrible person and you should be glad for him since they obviously seem to have pretty mutual feelings for each other." Another jealous thought entered my head so I dug my nails into my palm slightly—not enough to break skin or anything, but enough to get my own message across. "Stop it," I hissed at myself. In doing this while walking down a rather crowded hallway, I hadn't noticed someone in front of me and I ended up running straight into them, bumping me to the side and making their things fall out of their hands. "Oh, crap," I said, picking it up and handing it to the person, not seeing their face. "I'm sor—" I started to apologize, but then I realized who it was.

My eyes narrowed in a glare and I jutted my hip out, resting my hand on it. "Oh. It's you. Never mind then."

Lissa rolled her eyes and scoffed, yanking her things from my hand rather rudely, if I do say so myself, and she shoved past me in the opposite direction I was going.

Ha. I bet you expected me to have run in with some insanely hot and incredibly sweet boy who I end up falling in love with and spend the rest of my life with. Well, sorry about getting your hopes up, but my life isn't just some cliché book that you'd get from the "teen romance" section of a bookstore.

But oddly enough…Lissa hadn't been nearly as hostile as she usually was. I wondered why briefly but shrugged it off as nothing and continued to my next class.

* * *

><p>"Hey," Nudge greeted, beaming happily, and appearing suddenly at my side, Ella next to her. I smiled and greeted them back. "Hey yourself. What's going on?"<p>

"Have you met the new girl yet? I think that her name is, like, Brigid or something. I heard from a bunch of people that she was awesome—but I haven't actually talked to her yet. I _loooove_ her outfit though, it's _sooo_ cute! And the best part is that she isn't sleazy! That's really what surprised me the most, I mean, like half the populations of girls at our school are sluts—including like Lissa and stuff and _oh my God_, do you know what Lissa said to me the other day? She called me _bee-with-an-itch_! I mean, who _does_ that? If anything, _she's_ one. I mean, come _on_, she's freaking terrible! Do you know what she did to that one girl; Mattie I think was her name, who tried talking back about something? She tripped her in the lunchroom and had all of her food fall on her in front of a bunch of people! Like, honestly, that it is one of the most cliché things I think I've ever seen her do! She always freaking pisses me _off_! I don't even—"

I cut her off by answering, "Yes, I have met Brigid; I don't know yet if she's awesome or not—" _though Fang certainly seems to think so_, I added mentally—"I will definitely kill Lissa if she ever calls you that again; and yes, I'm aware that she pisses you off. She pisses me off too." I kept walking down the hall, since Ella, Nudge, and I have the same second period.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ella looking at me, amused, and then when I turned to her, she gave me a knowing look. "What?" I asked, feeling somewhat dumb that I didn't know, but she only continued to grin. "Nothing, nothing. But I think that we should try to hang out with Brigid some today. She seems like she'd get along well with us."

I momentarily glared at my Converse-clad feet, but then changed my expression to neutral. I didn't want them to know that I didn't like Brigid very much—sooner or later they'd figure things out and assume that I'm like, in love with Fang or something. Which, in case you're wondering, totally isn't true. At all. Nope, nope, nope! He's basically my brother, and so it would be incest if I dated him. Kind of. Almost. Not really. Oh, you know freaking what? Whatever. I don't even care at the moment.

Nudge started chattering again, breaking me from my sort-of trance, and we soon arrived at our destination, making it in right before the late bell rang.

* * *

><p>"You," Ella said, pointing her plastic fork at Iggy, "are completely insane."<p>

He only smirked cockily and said, "But that's why you love me!" Ella blushed, looking down, and muttered, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Just shut up and eat the dang food." I rolled my eyes at them, shoveling ravioli into my mouth. As per usual, it wasn't particularly appetizing, but I was starving so it was okay. I hadn't had time that morning to eat breakfast, having woken up late since my stupid alarm clock was broken (psssh, it totally has _nothing_ to do with me throwing it at my wall, what are _you_ talking about?) and I couldn't find my shoes.

Fang slipped into the chair beside me, setting his lunch tray down in front of him, greeting quietly, "Hey."

I only nodded in response, looking at the rest of our friends. I glanced at him since I'm dang curious and he was just looking down at him food, pocking at it in disgust. I laughed slightly at his disgusted expression and he snapped his head up to look at me. He only grinned a Mona Lissa smile without saying anything.

"Ah, so we're back the norm, are we?" I asked, shoving more food into my mouth and chugging my water down. It was gone very soon after. My record of draining a water bottle was six seconds.  
>"What?" he inquired confused for a moment. I shrugged and wiped my mouth with the sleeve of my jacket, setting my cup down. "We're back to you not talking much, I guess."<p>

Before he could say anything else, Ella looked at me, impressed. "How do you do that?"

I gave her a weird look, raising one eyebrow like I always did. "Do what?"

"Chug your drink down in a matter of seconds."

I shrugged one shoulder, answering simply with a smile, "I just do."

She opened her mouth to say something else, but like Fang, didn't get to because there was a small, awkward cough from behind me and we all turned around to see none other than Brigid standing there, rubbing on arm uncomfortably, a sack lunch held in her other hand. Her eyes were cast downward, set on her high heels. "Um…I was wondering if I could…um…sit with you guys?"

I answered, "No," the same moment that Fang answered, "Yes."

I whipped my head around to stare at him with a baffled expression on my face. I quickly masked it over so as not to seem rude to Brigid and said politely, grabbing Fang's wrist and standing up, "Excuse us for a moment." I dragged him away from our very confused friends, and out into the hallway.

I hissed angrily, "She's not joining our group!"

"Oh come on Max," he said, "she just wants to sit with us for today. Don't jump so quick to conclusions."

I crossed my arms, stared at the ground, and didn't say anything.

"Don't you want to give her a chance?"

"No."

He sighed in an exasperated way, like I was going to give him gray hairs early or something. "Max…"

"Fang…" I mimicked, still keeping my arms crossed, but looking up at him, fake pouting. He gave me an annoyed look. I just shrugged and trudged passed him, back into the cafeteria. He grabbed my arm before I could even get passed the double doors though, stopping me. "Max, seriously."

I yanked my hand away irritably and kept going, but he was having none of it. He jumped in front of me before I knew what was happening and grabbed both my wrists. I struggled against his grip, trying to leave. "No," I stated in a stern tone, trying to leave. "Let me go," I demanded angrily through clenched teeth, getting more and more ticked off as seconds went by. He ignored my command and continued to stare at me with a burning intensity. "Don't you think you're being even a _little_ unreasonable?"

"No, no I do not. Now if you would be so kind as to let go of my wrist, we'd get back to our table and not have everyone staring at us." He looked around quickly and just seemed to notice all the wondering eyes trained on us. Everyone—at least everyone in our grade—knew we were best friends, and to see us fighting was as rare as a zombie apocalypse.

Yeah. So now you understand why they'd be staring.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his mouth, leaning his head down a little so it was near to my level. Darn that boy for being so much taller than me. "Please?" he tried one last time in an almost whisper, his dark eyes begging. I stood there for a moment, staring at him. He stared back, still looking pleading. "You look kind of like a puppy," I informed him quietly because that's just me for you. He chuckled slightly at my random announcement, probably used to how incredibly out of the blue that was.

He slipped his hands from my wrists to my hands and rubbed circles in my palm with his thumb. He knew I liked that. "You don't have to like her…just give her a chance," he said. There was a pause. And then he added almost inaudibly: "…For me?"

_Crap-crap-crap-itty-crap-crap!_ He knew he had me there. And I, being I, just _had_ to freaking give in because I literally had, like, no self-control once so ever.

I groaned but he knew that he'd won, the corners of his lips coming up in a sort-of-grin, his eyes lighting up triumphantly. He let go of my hand and I rolled my eyes at him, annoyed, but followed him back to the table nonetheless.

Brigid was already sitting down, eating her lunch, and she had been chattering with Nudge, since I guess we took longer than I had originally planned. She was seated—what do you know—right next to Fang. "Surprise, surprise," I grumbled to myself. No one said anything while we sat back down. I probably looked pretty aggravated, while Mr. Emo Pants over there just looked impassive…as per usual. They all knew that he had played the "For me?" card. That and the Bambi eyes was the only thing that would make me agree to anything that I didn't want to agree to. Nudge and Ella actually used the Bambi eyes to get me to say yes to dye dark red streaks in my used-to-be-completely-brown hair in that past September. Though I must admit, the streaks didn't look all that bad.

"Well…that took longer than expected," Iggy stated, breaking the silence like a thin sheet of ice. We all turned to look at him and he just shrugged, going back to eating his lunch. Brigid looked down shyly, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize that I'd make such a fuss." I rolled my eyes at her and said monotonously, "Oh, trust me, you didn't." Fang glared at me slightly and Ella kicked me from beneath the table. "Ow!" I exclaimed and scowled at her, setting my fork down and feeling the sore spot she just left on my ankle. Crap. It was over a previous bruise too. "There's no need to turn to violence, Ellie-bell," I said and she just shook her head at me, taking a sip from her water bottle.

Brigid continued to look uncomfortable for a while, much to my pleasure. But sooner or later, she warmed up to us (mainly Fang, Ella, and Nudge) and started talking and talking away, going on like the Nudge Channel, except she left polite little pauses for them to answer. Ugh.

I decided that I definitely didn't need a reason for not liking her—I just didn't. I really, really didn't.

* * *

><p>"IGGY!" I shouted, running down the stairs, two steps at a time, barefoot. "GET BACK HER RIGHT FRIGGING NOW!" Although I'm sure I must have looked pretty terrifying, he only laughed and continued to flee.<p>

"GIVE IT BACK!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, pouncing at him, trying to grab the red, old, spiral notebook from his hands. I missed though, since he managed to jump to the side right as my hands skimmed the spine of it. I stomped my foot in frustration and ran after him once again, turning a corner into the living room where my mom and Mrs. Walker were just talking. Angel and Gazzy were outside and Fang was doing…whatever it was that Fang did. It was Thanksgiving night, if you wanted to know, and my family was spending yet another year with the Walkers.

I had been dumb enough to bring my writing journal to their house and Iggy somehow managed to get a hold of it. I continued to chase him outside where he suddenly stopped and held my precious journal out of reach. I probably looked beet red, and you could basically see the steam coming out of my ears. "I SWEAR TO GOD THAT IF YOU DON'T GIVE IT BACK RIGHT NOW, I'LL—"

"You'll what?" He asked tauntingly, holding the notebook just a little bit out of my reach above his head. I glared at him and growled menacingly. "I'll do this," I said, right before I kneed him were it counts.

Okay, so maybe that was a little harsh, but I wasn't too hard and I wanted my frigging book back—if he read any of the stuff that I'd written in there, then I would be royally screwed. No one could know what was in there. No one. Not even Angel, whose Bambi eyes were incredibly hard to resist, even for me. Not even Fang, who knew just about everything about me. Not even my mom who I was incredibly close to, even for a mother and a daughter. No one. I wrote all of my deepest, darkest secrets in there—the ones that I normally buried very far down in the clutter of facts and thoughts and feelings in my head. All of the feelings that I'd been able to admit to paper but not even to myself were in there. I wrote down stories that I'd had stuck in my head for quite a long time, most of them some certain form of those previously-mentioned-feelings to get them out and released in a…not-as-girly way. Sometimes I wrote them in forms of songs instead and those were probably the most embarrassing. I could never let someone read it…EVER.

I snatched the notebook from him while he groaned, dropping to his knees on the ground, and I ran away, back into the house, cackling all the way. I fist pumped the air in triumph and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind me and then making sure that it locked.

I sighed in relief, leaning against the door with it pressed against my chest. "Oh thank God, I have it back," I muttered. "I can't believe…" I started to say to myself, but I didn't finish, instead just thinking it. I slid down the door, on to the floor and flipped through a couple of pages of it, thinking back to when I wrote it. I wondered if he'd read anything—and if he had, how much did he read? But I didn't leave to ask him; he was probably still in pain.

Heehee. I'm a mean person.

"Max?" I heard my mother ask, coming down the hallway looking for me. I got up with a sigh and unlocked the door, tucking the spiral behind my back and only popping my head out of the door. "Yeah Mom?" I said, making sure that she could only see my head and a little bit of my shoulders. She gave me a stern look.

"Why is Iggy rolling on the floor, groaning?"

I stifled a laugh, quickly catching myself. "I don' know. Maybe he's just being Iggy?"

She gave me another look.

I groaned.

"I'm sorry, okay? He took something very important of mine and would not give it back. You know how that goes over for me."

She only rolled her eyes at me, but I could tell she was hiding back a grin, and motioned for me to come out of the restroom and talk to her. And I did, but not before throwing the spiral onto the tile floor and closing the door behind me.

"I understand that he took something of yours—but seriously Max, you had to kick him there? Knowing you, he'll probably never able to reproduce now."

I just shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly, grinning a little to myself.

She only shook her head at me and told me to come downstairs for dinner. I came with her with no complaint, starving from forgetting to eat lunch. I also knew that Mrs. Walker was cooking dinner that night, and I swear to God that she was the best cook ever.

As per usual, just about everyone was already seated at the table. Angel was next to her brother Gazzy, Iggy (who scowled at me as I walked in) occupied the chair next to him and Mrs. Walker sat at the head of the table, Mr. Walker next to her. My mom sat next to him, and there were two empty seats for Fang and me. I took the one next to Mom, the chair making a screeching noise as I pulled it out. It only took a couple of seconds after I sat down for Fang to come back from whatever he had been doing. Once he was seated, Mrs. Walker said, "Angel, would you like to start us off in our prayer, saying what we're all thankful for?" Angel nodded excitedly, blonde curls bouncing around her head, blue eyes shining happily. We all held hands, and she said, "Dear God, thank you for all the stuff we own. Thank you for the food and my teddy bear Celeste and our house and our family and Jesus and everyone else in the world. Thanks for Max and Mrs. Martinez too, 'cause Max is like my sister since all I really have are brothers and they're both like our family." I smiled as she mentioned me, and then Gazzy started.

"I'm thankful for our home and this food, 'cause gosh, it looks and smells real good. I'm also thankful for our family and the Martinez's. I'm thankful that Iggy's such a cool big brother and that Angel's such a, well, angel, and that Fang even though he's kind of quiet and stuff; he's still a cool brother too."

I opened my eyes slightly and looked over at Fang. He was smiling faintly, eyes closed, head tilted up a little. Shutting my eyes again, I squeezed his hand gently. He squeezed back.

"Uh…I'm thankful for my family plus the Martinez's, my home, our money since that's kinda helpful, this dinner, bombs—"

"Iggy!"

"Right, right, sorry, Mum. I mean, uh, I'm thankful for family, friends, our home, money, dinner, and life. There. You happy now?"

I could basically feel Mrs. Walker grin while she replied, "Very."

She continued, "I'm thankful for my lovely husband, our amazing children, our home that's been so gracious to us, Jesus, who laid his life down for us, God, who gave his one and only son up for us, this dinner, my almost-daughter Max, my best friend Valencia, and my parents."

Mr. Walker's turn I guess. "I'm thankful for my wife, our children, friends, home, life, God, Jesus, and everything else that I probably don't have enough time to mention."

Well, that was short and straight to the point.

My mom: "I'm thankful for my family, my daughter, my friends and music, our safety, and everything else that we need to live."

It was my turn to say something. "Uh…I'm thankful for our house, my amazing friends—" I squeezed Fang's hand again, and as expected, he squeezed back. "My mom who stayed strong even though she raised me alone, the rest of my family, my education, my music, my writing journal, my religion…I guess, and the Walker's, who have always been my second family."

There was a moment of silence after that before Fang started awkwardly. "…I'm, uh, thankful for family, friends, education, the Martinez's, money, our safety, music, and books…"

Wow. That was the most I'd heard him say all day.

After he ended, we all dropped hands and started eating, but I didn't let go of his, instead eating with my left hand. (Even though I'm right handed and it was incredibly hard.)

"Oh, goodness, this is freaking delicious," I moaned.

"It's luscious," Iggy said, putting emphasis on the last word since he knew I hated that word. I rolled my eyes and started ranting half-heartedly, since I was in too good of a mood to really be livid about it. "Who uses 'luscious' to describe food anyways? Normally, you hear someone say, 'luscious locks of hair' and definitely not 'luscious pie.' I mean, come one, who wants to eat something described like that?" The pyromaniac just grinned in response, going back to eating.

* * *

><p><strong>Fang's POV:<strong>

After dinner was over and the kitchen was clear, everyone settled into the living room and watched TV, talking up a storm. I wasn't really in the mood, so I excused myself to the bathroom to stay there a little while. I wanted to think.

Oh, God. Yes, I was thinking about Max. She was beginning to become way more…moody, almost. I told Iggy this, but he just shrugged and labeled it PMS. I didn't think that was it though. I figured it was something a lot more significant, but I just couldn't think of what.

And she'd been so rude to Brigid ever since she moved here. I wasn't sure why; I mean, Brigid had never done anything bad to Max…had she?

I closed the bathroom door behind me, locking the door out of habit and looking myself in the mirror. I sighed. I mean…I was her best friend…I was supposed to know what was going one with her always, right? But then again, I hadn't really told her everything either—but that was different! I couldn't risk putting our friendship on the line just because I was, you know, completely in love with her.

Meh. Details, details.

I took a step back but then jumped when my heel came in contact with something. I looked down behind me to see a spiral notebook sitting the ground…more specifically, Max's spiral notebook.

Okay, okay, so I know that I wasn't supposed to look at it. I know that she always told me never to even touch it without her say-so. I know that she always said that she would kill me without a second thought if I ever read what she'd written in there without permission. And I know that I'd already done that once before and felt incredibly bad about it.

But for some reason, my mind completely disregarded that information when I saw that it was already opened to the page she'd last been one and that no one was around to see me.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a terrible person. Whatever.

I did feel sort of bad when I read some, knowing that I wasn't supposed to and that it was so freaking important to her.

This is what I read:

* * *

><p><em>"Tell me the story!" she begged her mother. Normally, she wouldn't tell her children stories at nighttime, but she decided that she should. With two pairs of bright green eyes staring at her, waiting to be told something up to their expectations, she couldn't say no. So she turned to her twins, both holding a stuffed animal in their hands, and both looking eager. She smiled to herself, shaking her head a little, and then she began the story.<em>

_"Alright. So…Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess. Her name was—" _

"_Annilee!" Megan, the oldest (by ten minutes) interrupted. Her mother just nodded, agreeing to the name. "Uh-huh. So there was a beautiful princess named Annilee. She lived with her mother and father, who also happened to be the king and queen of an amazing kingdom called—" _

"_Kyran!" her other daughter Sadie suggested._

"_That's a stupid name for a kingdom," Megan grumbled. Sadie scowled at her sister, offended. "Annilee is a stupid name for a princess." They began to bicker with each other, as siblings often do. _

"_GIRLS!" their mother screamed, interrupting their banter. She gave them both pointed looks and they cowered back into their pink-and-purple comforters, looking sheepish. Megan smiled apologetically, muttering, "Sorry Mum."_

_She rolled her eyes, continuing the story. "So they lived in Kyran, which was one of loveliest kingdoms that anyone had ever heard of. Do you know why?" _

_They shook their heads. _

"_It was lovely because everyone there was happy and—"_

"_Why were they happy?" Sadie asked, titling her head to the side, her brown curls bouncing on her shoulders. _

_Mother shrugged. "They just were." _

"_But _why_?" she pressed on, leaning forward in her bed, since Sadie had always been the more curious of the two eight-year-olds. _

"_Does there have to be a reason?" _

"_Well…there must be something. My teacher Mrs. Myers says there's a reason for everything. So why were they happy?" _

"_Honestly dear, sometimes you're too reasonable for your own good." _

_Megan stuck her tongue out at Sadie when her mother wasn't looking. _

_Mum kept on. "There's not necessarily a reason for _everything_—some things just…they just are." _

_Now they both looked confused. _

_She sighed. "Sometimes people do things or feel things just because they can. I could suddenly start jump roping for no reason at all." _

"_But there's still a reason." Now Megan was going on about it. "You're doing it because it's fun, right?" _

"_Not always. You can, but not always. If I think something isn't particularly fun, but it's not terrible, could I still do it anyways? Yes. I could. That doesn't mean I'm always going to, but if I did, then there was no real logic behind it, was there?" _

_They shook their heads. _

"_Exactly," she said. "Now, as I was saying, the_

* * *

><p>But there wasn't anything left after that. I realized that Max had a tendency to do that—start something and then drop it in the middle of it, I mean. She did that with the last story. Or maybe she just didn't have time to finish writing everything down.<p>

I didn't want to ask her.

Completely ignoring the feeling in my stomach, I flipped through the book a little before I stopped at a certain page that had, for some reason, stuck out to me. In big, bold red letters at the top of the page, it said "RADIO". The rest went like this:

_He grew up just a little too fast_

_Lost and needs it's on his past_

_I can hear him humming _

_From the other side of the room_

_I guess he's got rhythm_

'_Cause he hums every time he's blue_

_Oh_

_Radio _

_Bleed me a melody_

_Something that'll make _

_This boy cry_

_Radio _

_Bleed me a melody _

_That'll make him wonder why_

_He was so cold_

_Broken glass and a pretty face_

_Silent morn, full of hate_

_Quiet face, silent mind_

_Screaming for consequence_

_Bleeding for more_

_Radio _

_Bleed me a melody_

_Something that'll make _

_This boy cry_

_Radio _

_Bleed me a melody _

_That'll make him wonder why_

_He was so cold_

_I hum a song that reminds him_

_Of a time when he wasn't tumbling_

_Down, down, _

_Tumbling down_

_Radio _

_Bleed me a melody_

_Something that'll make _

_This boy cry_

_Radio _

_Bleed me a melody _

_That'll make him wonder why_

_He was so cold_

Sounds like me, but why would Max write _that?_ True, I didn't have a hard life. I do shut myself out, and I sink myself in music and books.

…Wait.

I shouldn't even be reading Max's book! Frick, this is her personal stuff! If she _ever _finds out I AM DEAD FREAKING MEAT. Frick, frick, _frick_.

At this response to my realization, I hurriedly closed the book, making sure that it was where I'd found it, unlocked the door, pulled it open, and ran out. I went into my room, which was across the hall from that specific bathroom, but to my unfortunate luck, Max had been coming up the stairs, probably to see me. (I hadn't actually seen her though, so I found that out later.)

I sat on my bed after locking the door, and thought for a moment about what I would do. Confront her about it? …I wasn't particularly fond of the idea, since she'd, you know, kick my butt into next Tuesday. Just let it go and pretend like I'd never touched it? …I liked that idea more. But at the same time, I felt terrible for invading her privacy. I mean, she already told me just about everything, so why couldn't I just let her have even a couple secrets to herself? It's not like I didn't keep secrets from her. _Great,_ I thought, _now I'm talking myself into thinking that I'm a terrible person._ And I was starting to get a headache, partially from the fact that everyone downstairs was being freaking loud and our walls were super thin, and partially because of…you know.

I didn't have time to finish contemplating it though, before Max burst into my room. She looked a little exhausted, and hadn't I locked the door? What? I also didn't have time to finish thinking about HOW THE HECK SHE GOT IN THERE before she started talking.

"FANG, where's my book? Have you seen it? I've told almost everyone I know, especially this family, DON'T TOUCH THE BOOK. HELP ME NOW. Wait," she said closing the door with one hand, than walking over with her eyes squinted, "Did _you _possibly take my book?"

I shook my head furiously, and Max quickly grabbed my shirt by the collar and pulled me close to her face. Man, I wanted to kiss her so badly right then... I could've just— "BECAUSE IF YOU TOOK MY BOOK, I WILL KICK YOU WHERE I KICKED IGGY, EXCEPT I WILL POUND YOUR FACE IN ALONG WITH THAT, AND HURT YOU SO MUCH THAT IT WILL KNOCK YOU INTO THE NEXT TWILIGHT BOOK. IT WILL HURT, THAT MUCH," she yelled in my face.

See what I told you?

I got up from my bed and set my hands on her shoulders. She looked confused at my random change in expression and mood, but I ignored it. "Max, calm down," I said, pulling her hands down so that they were by her side. "I didn't take your book, it's okay."

She gave me a suspicious look, eyes narrowed. "You didn't?"

I nodded like I was talking to a kindergartener.

I thought my brilliant plan (sarcasm, my dear readers) was going to work when she suddenly pulled away, put her hands on her hips, and stated coolly, "Total bull crap."

"What?"

"I don't believe you."

"And why is that, m'lady?"

She had turned around and started heading towards the door, but I followed her. She leaned against the door and stood, staring at me, ankles crossed. "You're such a dork," she mumbled. I tried my best to look natural, which wasn't very hard for me, and pressed my hand near her head on the door so I was leaning in slightly. _Stop it brain, you're ruining my casual act… _

"Because I can tell when you're lying."

"Oh really?" I thought that if she really could, then why couldn't she tell whenever I lied to her about what I was thinking? If she could, wouldn't she have already been able to tell that I loved her?

"Yeah, I can. You wanna see?"

"Go ahead. Enlighten me."

"Okay. Well, tell me three things. Two truths, one lie," she said, grinning. I shook my head but went along with it. "Okay, okay, um…" I thought for a moment before saying, "Um, one: I know all the lyrics to every song on the album 'For Emma, Forever Ago', two: before I moved here, at my old house, I had a tree house similar to the one outside, and three: I'm completely and utterly in love with you."

Her breath hitched in her throat and my heart was pounding. We leaned in subconsciously. "…The last one?"

"Nah." And then I leaned down and kissed her.

…

…

Okay, now that I'm done teasing you all, _no_, that did _not_ happen. But that's what I wanted to say—I wanted to say that I was in love with her at the end, as my last truth to tell her, but as we all know, I was too chicken to. So instead, I just said, "And three: your hair looks like a rats nest when you first wake up in the morning."

She gaped at me, whacking me upside the head lightly. "Fang! Shut up!" she fussed at me. I snickered, trying to cover up what I'd just been daydreaming about. Completely oblivious to my previous contemplative state, she ducked under my arm and sat back down on my bed, jutting her bottom lip out and furrowing her eyebrows as a fake pout. "Aw, stop that, you know make me feel guilty by doing that," I said, though we both knew I was teasing at the last bit.

She crossed her arms and turned away from me so her back was facing me. "I'm not talking to you," she said in her little-kid voice. I rolled my eyes and counted in my head. The moment I was to ten, she turned back around to look at me. She was still fake pouting, except this time; she fluttered her eyelashes at me and tried to look sad. I just shook my head, looking away. "Stop, it's un-_bearable_," I told her sarcastically. I knew that she was smiling when she threw her arms around my neck in a sort-of-hug and said, "You just can't control yourself around me!"

I muttered, "Yeah, well…you never guessed what the lie was."

"First one," she answered without hesitation.

I gave her a confused look. "How'd you know?"

She shrugged, letting go of my neck and sitting cross-legged next to me. "You looked less sure. Plus, when I try to sing 'Re: Stacks' you always mess up at the beginning."  
>"So you're just using background knowledge?"<p>

She shrugged again. "For some of it. But most is analyzing. And my amazing deductive powers."

I rolled my eyes. "What's up with you and cursing?" I asked, totally out of the blue.

"Ah, we haven't been so good. You know, he won't even talk to me anymore. It's like he's completely ignoring my calls, honestly."

I gave her a look. She grinned and then answered seriously, "I just don't like it. See, I'll tolerate when someone else does, but I don't. I'm waiting, you know?"

"No, I don't know."

She sighed, frustrated. "It's like…okay, so, you know how Bon Iver curses in his songs, right?" I nodded. "And I never complain about it but I complain about other stuff cursing?" I nodded again. "Well, that's not because I'm being biased, that's because the other stuff is cursing mindlessly. They're cursing to fill in blanks. Stuff that I listen to that curses is using it in an emotional way—they're using it to express how strongly they feel about the topic. Blind Pilot curses some, but it's not mindless. That's why I don't say that stuff often, because if I did, it wouldn't mean anything when I was really, really mad. If I said 'fuuuu—'all the time, then if I were seriously pissed and I said that, no one would give it a second glance."

"That makes sense."

"Yeah. I'd hope that it would."

"…"

"…Fang, give me my notebook."

"But I didn't—"

"_NOW_."

"…Okay…"

* * *

><p>The following week after Thanksgiving break was relatively normal, besides Max being so darn rude to Brigid every second that Brigid was around us. I just couldn't figure it out—and that's saying something, considering I could <em>always<em> tell what was bothering her, no matter what. I tried not to let it bother me that she was all of the sudden closed off from us, but it did. And it bothered me a lot. But I guess that kind of makes since, considering I was her best friend.

The weirdest thing that I think happened that week was this:

I was walking down the hallway, you know, as people normally do to get to classes, and, as normal, I saw my friends. Nothing wrong with that, you know, just every-day stuff, nothing special. Yeah, well, Lissa was there…and she was having a chat with Maxikins, and I guessed that it wasn't a very nice one, taking in account for Max's expression. She looked _beyond_ pissed. Like she'd just been to Hades and back, thrice.

So, naturally when I walked up, I stood behind my dear best friend, set my hand on her shoulder almost as habit, and looked skeptically at Lissa, who was smirking at Max. When she looked up at me, that devious look never left, but a flirtatious one joined. Oh, crap.

"Hey Fang," she greeted, batting her green eyes at me and doing that weird little wave girls always did, where they wiggle their index finger, middle finger, and ring finger. I just nodded but my stoic expression never left. "Uh, Max," I said, since she was still glaring daggers at Lissa. "Time for first period, come on."

"Yeah, Max, run along…just listen to him. After all, that's the only thing you seem capable of doing."

Her hands started trembling in rage. I wondered what Lissa had said before then to make her so mad. I caught her arms before she had time to punch her in the face. Either that, or she was going to strangle her. It's not like it would've been surprising anyway.

"Stop," I warned, turning her to face me. She kept her eyes on Lissa though. "She isn't worth it," I told her. She final ripped her gaze from giving her long time rival death glares, looking me in the eyes instead. She nodded once, but didn't stop her sour look. Lissa unwisely kept on, probably trying to see how many of her buttons she could push before she exploded.

She put one perfectly manicured finger to her chin and tapped it thoughtfully. "'She isn't worth it.' Hmm, now where have I heard that sentence before? Oh, yeah, maybe it was when—"

Before I had time to do anything, Max's arm snapped out of my grip and her fist flew towards Lissa's face. She socked her in the nose with a sickening 'crunch' and I figured it was broken. Unfortunately for us, there were actually other people in the hallway who had seen the exchange—no teachers yet, thank God, but definitely quite a few students. Max didn't even seem to notice them. Lissa stumbled back, holding her nose which everyone knew was bound to be bleeding, but quickly retaliated by grabbing a fistful of Max's hair and smashing her head into a locker once or twice before I yanked her hand from my friend's hair.

"Oh, God," I mumbled, trying to hold Max back. It didn't seem to be working though, because when she's angry, she's like a freaking bull—or a lioness. Either one works.

"MAX!" I screamed, but she didn't hear me. She kept yelling profanities at Lissa, the crowd around us growing with every word. Let me repeat that: she was cussing Lissa out. And in case you don't remember, Max _never cussed_. She was out to kill, eyes full of hate that I hadn't seen in a rather long time, hands still trembling. Lissa didn't look smug or even that mad anymore—she looked terrified and it seemed that any other emotion besides that had been…deleted, so to speak.

"What is your freaking _problem?"_ I had honest to God never seen her as mad as that before. You could basically see the fire in her eyes. She kept on, "You can't just give me one day—one, single, freaking _day_—to not have anyone torment me, can you? No, because _apparently_ I did something so _terrible _that I _deserve_ you ragging on me every second! And you think that I'm the bad one in this situation; you think that I'm the one no one honestly likes? News flash: it's the opposite! So just take your little freaking posse, AND JUST LEAVE ME. THE HECK. _ALONE_!" Max finished ranting right as a teacher finally noticed the entire ruckus that had been caused. The swarm of students parted for Ms. Channel like the Red Sea for Moses. "What's going on here?" she exclaimed, seeing Max's livid face, Lissa's frightened one, and everyone else's slightly confused ones. Her eyes darted from Lissa to Max, to Lissa to Max, to me, to everyone else. Lissa didn't say anything. Max glared at her. Apparently she still had a little steam left in her. "What?" she spat, looking and sounding a lot more cynical than normal. "You're not going to tell the teacher on me?"

For a moment, I actually felt bad for Lissa because she looked genuinely sorry, standing there shell-shocked from Max's speech, staring at her shoes, tears about to overflow from her eyes. And evidently Max saw that too, because her features visibly softened some and you could tell the regret starting to flit into her eyes. But then, instead of apologizing like I thought she would since she's just sympathetic like that, her eyes started filling with tears too. She let a couple sobs escape her throat before running away to…I guessed the bathroom. "Awww, _crap_," I muttered, (well, actually, a different word for that) giving a fleeting look at everyone else before running after her. The last thing I wanted was for her to _cry_. I'd seen her cry a total of five times in the entire eleven years I'd known her: twice when we were little, once in sixth grade when we had our first fight, once in eighth grade when that jerk-butt-stalker dude hurt her feelings, and once just that past October when I'd announced my move. This would be the sixth time.

She wasn't in the girl's bathroom like I expected, but rather, just an empty classroom. And her tears had stopped coming so she just sat on top of a desk, her knees tucked up to her chest, her arms wrapped around them, and her head resting on the tops of her knees.

I walked in quietly, and I thought that she hadn't noticed my presence until she suddenly said without looking up, "I'm not crying anymore, if you wanted to know. And yeah, that was the sixth." And I swear that I heard her voice choke up at the end like the tears were about to start coming again.

I sat next to her without a word, rubbing circles between her shoulder blades while she leaned into me, closing her eyes. I thought she had fallen asleep before I realized that she was crying again, so I wrapped my arms around her like it seemed I did more often all the sudden. She didn't cry for long though, so that was good; at least she wasn't _extremely_ upset.

When she was done, she pulled away and looked me in the eyes. I remembered that she hadn't been able to do that the last time I'd caught her crying. I wiped a tear from her cheek with my thumb, since our lives couldn't possibly get anymore cliché. "That counts as number seven, doesn't it?" she muttered, trying at a watery smile. I give a small (of course) smile back. "I'll make an exception and say it's the same time. The score is officially six then." She gave a short, choppy laugh. "And what about you?"

"Five still," I informed her.

"Always the overachiever," she said, kidding around like she wasn't still upset. But we all knew she was.

"So…what was that about?" I pushed a piece of her hair out of her eyes so she could see me better, hooking it behind her ear. She smiled at me, but didn't say anything, instead just wrapping her arms around her knees after bringing them to her chest again. "Fine, fine, you don't have to tell."  
>"It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, if that's what you're wondering," she blurted out suddenly. I looked at her but she wasn't looking at me. "She just said some more stuff about you and some other, pretty harsh stuff about me. Harsher than usual, I mean," she clarified, seeing my expression from the corner of her eyes. She took a deep breath. "I guess I just kind of…lost it. Lunged at her. Yelled at her. In some ways I think she deserved it…but that look on her face after I said all that stuff…"<p>

I started rubbing between her shoulder blades. "It made me kind of start to re-think things…is she really that bad? I mean," she turned to me, a look more of curiosity and determination etched in her expression, "there has to be _some_ sort of reason as to why she's always so mean to everyone…more specifically: us. People aren't just that mean to anyone they come across. There is a legit reason she hates me, I just need to find out what it is."

I gave her a weird look. "I understand that you feel bad for her, but don't you think you might be overanalyzing things a little too much?"

She shook her head and gave me a disappointed look. "No. I don't. Now, originally, I thought the reason she hates me was because I hang out with you all the time and she likes you and thinks we have a thing going on and blah, blah, blah, details, details, but I don't think that's the only reason anymore."

"Oh, Lord, here we go," I mumbled under my breath, but, like always, she heard me.

She actually looked rather offended. "Excuse me? Well then, I guess I won't tell you my plan if you don't support this."

I sighed and shook my head, but agreed to help her. "Fine, I will."

She grinned slightly and was about to say something else, when it said over the intercom, "Maxine Ride and Elizabeth Hart, please come to the office immediately. Maxine Ride and Elizabeth Hart, please come to the office." She rolled her eyes, grabbing her bag and jumping off the table. "I managed to get sent to the office before second period. A new record for me!" she said sarcastically. I shrugged one shoulder and walked with her as far as we could before we had to branch off, me to first period, and her to the principal's.

* * *

><p><strong>MAX'S POV:<strong>

"Maxine Ride and Elizabeth Hart, please come to the office immediately. Maxine Ride and Elizabeth Hart, please come to the office." Grabbing my messenger bag and rolling me eyes, I jump off the desk. "I managed to get sent to the office before second period. A new record for me!" I told him sarcastically, him just shrugging in a reply. Fang walked with me as far as he could until we had to separate so I could be sent to the principal's. "Woo. My favorite activity."

I was the only one in the hallway, save some kid who appeared to be in my grade, though I doubted that I'd ever talked to her. We did that awkward thing where you try not to make eye contact and end up just staring either ahead of you, or at your shoes so as not to make things uncomfortable. Even though that just ends up making things worse…yeah.

After that unpleasant experience, I was at the office and had to wait a bit before going to see the principal. Unfortunately for me, Lissa was already there, an ice pack on her nose, a tissue in her hand, and a sorry look on her face. Though she didn't show that to me when she looked up. I suppose she tried to look indifferent, but I'd already seen the apology in her eyes earlier and while they were trained on the ground.

To make things slightly less awkward, I sat down a couple seats away from her and taking my iPod from my backpack, popping the earphones in and blasting Relient K from them.

After a moment, I saw the secretary motion for me to take my earphones out and go in. I did, stuffing my iPod in the first pocket and walking slowly inside, Lissa in front of me.

The principal, Dr. Hawkins, sat in a huge, mahogany desk with plenty of papers and trinkets and things covering it, hands laced together in front of him. The fancy plaque thingy read, "Dr. Christopher Hawkins." He had salt and pepper hair, cut to a sort-of-buzz cut, and was considerably young.

I sat myself down, just putting my bag in my lap, and crossing my legs out of habit. I shoved some bothersome hair out of my line of sight, seeing Lissa cross her ankles and sit up straight, smoothing her miniskirt out to make it seem longer. I rolled my eyes.

After a long, boring speech about how inappropriate our behavior was, he told us that we each had detention every Friday for two weeks. She looked rather upset by this news, but I didn't really care. Mom wouldn't care as long as everything was all right and I hadn't gotten hurt. Sure, she'd lecture me a little, but nothing more than that.

The rest of the day passed without worry, Brigid still sitting with us at lunch. The more I was around her, the less I liked her, so I tried my best not to be around her. Mom did just as I had predicted, lecturing me for a minute about how I wasn't to get myself into fights, and then she hugged me and we talked about what had happened.

Days passed. Then weeks. It got colder and colder outside, until I was reduced to having to wear thicker jackets even though I really hated them. The upside was that I got to wear my cardigans and scarves constantly and not burn up in it.

It was two days before Winter Break, and as normal, Brigid was blabbing away to Fang. I was in a particularly bad mood that day because I'd had cramps all day, felt like I was about to throw up, looked like crap, barely got any sleep the night before, and had a major headache. So when she started chattering rather loudly about this and that to him, it annoyed me. But when she actually _asked him out on a date_, I couldn't take it. Fang nodded after a moment, and she squealed, kissing him on the cheek. My gut twisted and I felt worse. I gave them both a glare and then stepped into the girls' bathroom. The weird thing was that I swear that Fang glanced at me anxiously before saying yes. Ella followed me, looking worried, but I ignored that and splashed cold water on my forehead.

"Brigid again?" She asked, already knowing the answer. I nodded, shutting my eyes and leaning against the wall behind me. "Why do you hate her so much anyways?"

"I don't hate her," I mumbled, pinching the bridge of my nose and sighing. I could almost feel the realization hit Ella smack in the face. She gasped, and then squealed loudly, "Ooooh, you're _jealous _of her!"

I peeked over at her, opening one of my eyes a little, giving her a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

"You're jealous of Brigid because Fang likes her!"

I pushed away from the wall and leaned against the sink instead. "I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yeah, you are."  
>I snapped completely. "I AM NOT JEALOUS OF BRIGID!"<p>

She looked taken aback and I instantly felt terrible about yelling at her. There was a moment of awkward silence before I said meekly, "Oh, Ells, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

But she cut me off by putting her hands up to stop me and saying, "It's okay. I shouldn't have pushed you. I know how you must be feeling right now."

I nodded in thanks, looking down and thinking over what she had said. "But what do you mean, 'how I must be feeling right now'?"

She looked at herself in the mirror, fixing her hair dark brown hair and fidgeting with her hands. "Just, you know, having to deal with watching the guy you like, go out with someone else."

My eyebrows creased. "But…I don't like Fang like that."

She gave me a confused and slightly concerned look before going back the mirror, flipping her hair a couple times to get into a position she liked.

"I swear, I don't like Fang like that," I promised, putting my hands up in surrender. She shook her head, hair bouncing around her. She said like a mother would to her child (even though I'm older),"Everyone but you knows that by now, hon."

"But…I don't like him that way."

She sighed in an exasperated way. "Are you seriously this blind?"

I didn't say anything.

"It's obvious by the way you two look at each other that there are way more than best-friend-feelings. We've all known this for about four years."

"Four years?"

"Yeah, four years. Isn't that what I just said?"

"But…wait, wait, wait," I interrupted, feeling heat rise to my cheeks, giving something away. I wasn't sure what that something was, but it was _something_ since a knowing look stretched across her expression. "I swear, I don't like him in that way. Don't you think that I should be the first one to know whether or not I like someone?"

She groaned, looking annoyed at my lack of cooperation. "That's the thing. You _have_ known this, haven't you? You just won't admit it."

"Um, _no_," I said, flailing my arms around. I was always one for using hand motions. "I haven't known this but apparently it's already been decided without my say-so that I'm, like, completely in love with him!"

"But you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Well, _he_ is."

That certainly shocked me into not saying anything. There was silence for a long while before I spoke up again.

"What, you mean he's in love with Brigid?"

"No. He's in love with _you_. He doesn't _love _you—he's _in love_ with you."

…

…That definitely wasn't what I was expecting.

We didn't say anything else for what felt like forever; though I knew it was probably only, like, five minutes. "He doesn't," I finally mumbled, looking down at my shoes. My headache was getting worse and worse as seconds ticked by, and this random probably-not-true announcement wasn't helping it. I leaned against the sink again, suddenly feeling like I was about to puke my guts up once again.

"Oh my goodness, Max!" Ella exclaimed. I winced at the sudden loud noise, but she didn't seem to notice. If she did notice, she didn't care at that moment. "Are you blind _and_ deaf? I, along with just about every other sane person on the face of the Earth, would _kill _to have what you two have, but you can't even appreciate it because you're too darn stubborn to even _realize_ it!" She took a deep breath, calming herself down. Ella didn't get mad a lot, but when she got mad, she wasn't too gentle about…well, anything. "He likes you! He's admitted that to us since he was _twelve_! That's pretty darn young! Nudge and I wanted to tell you soon because you can't come to see that, but he made us promise we wouldn't because he wanted to tell you on his own time. I'm sorry that I broke that promise, but it's pretty obvious that without a push, you two are going absolutely _nowhere_."

I didn't say anything. Oh, God, I was going to be sick. My brain was overloading and everything was becoming harder to understand. Feeling that tingling in the back of my tongue, I ran towards one of the stalls and leaned against the toilet, holding my hair back.

Ella followed like she seemed to do a lot, and took my hair for me while I emptied my breakfast.

Once I was done, I leaned my head against the side of the stall door, calming down my breathing, the terrible feeling going away. My headache hadn't left yet though. It took me a moment, but I got up, flushed the toilet, and washed my mouth out with cold water. I thanked Ella for holding my hair and she led me down to the nurse's office.

The only problem was that I passed out right as we made it there.

* * *

><p><strong>Fang's POV:<strong>

I couldn't believe Brigid asked me out. I mean, it's not like I didn't like her or anything, but I was still kind of…not over Max. I kind of felt like I would be almost cheating if I went out with her.

But then again…Brigid was a nice girl and I related to her. She wasn't mean or anything, just a little clingy, but no one can be perfect, right? And anyways, I needed to get over Max. She obviously wasn't returning the feelings anytime soon, was she? I thought it would be better for both of us. That way I wasn't putting our friendship at jeopardy and we could go on as normal—she never had to know that I had taken a fancy to her since we were kids.

…Anyways.

So I said yes to going out with Brigid. The look of bliss on her face made me happy that she was happy, but I still had that tiny feeling in the pit of my stomach telling me that I wasn't doing the right thing. I ignored it.

Brigid squealed and then tried to cover it up. I grinned a little. She was just like a child waking up on Christmas morning, a look of pure joy in her eyes. She beamed at me, perfect white teeth showing, before kissing my cheek and hugging my torso. I was a good four or five inches taller than her.

"Great! I was thinking maybe this Thursday, since we get off tomorrow obviously, and we could go to this one place downtown that…" she kept on about the date while I listened patiently to her. I felt…a little better knowing that I wouldn't have to deal with the heartache anymore, but at the same time, I still felt how I had predicted: like I was cheating on Max with Brigid. I shook it off and then noticed that neither Ella nor Max was there anymore.

I cut Brigid's excited chatter off. "Do you know where they went?"

She stopped, and looked around, seeming to have just noticed their absence as well. "Um…I don't know. Max wasn't looking too well earlier, so maybe they went to the bathroom?" I nodded, but kept scanning the area for them. "I'll go see what's going up with them," she offered and I nodded in thanks as she got up from her seat.

I waited a couple of minutes before she came back and hurriedly told me that Max had passed out. I jumped from my seat, nearly tripping in the process, and raced down the hall to the nurse, Brigid behind me. She was doing pretty well; especially considering it must've been hard to run in the shoes she was wearing.

When we got to nurse, Max had actually already woken up, but wasn't looking too good—she also looked like she'd literally _just _woken up, like, a couple minutes before. Her face was pretty pale, and she was sweating and cradling her head in her hands. Ella was sitting on the bed-type-thing with her, looking upset. "Hey, what's wrong?" I asked the moment we entered. Her eyes flickered up to me and she shrugged. "Sick, I guess," she managed to croak. Ella told me that her mother was going to pick Max up, since Max's mom was still at work and hadn't answered her phone. I nodded and pulled a chair up with them, Brigid just standing behind me. We weren't really doing much, having already finished exams the previous week, so I doubted that anyone much cared if we stayed in the nurse's office for a while.

"What are y'all doing in here?" Nurse Amy asked, looking at us questioningly. She was holding a wet rag in her hand.

"Um, we wanted to see how she was doing," Brigid said, gesturing to Max and Ella. Nurse Amy nodded and she let us stay with them before Ella's mom came. She understood, I guess, and knew that it wouldn't matter if we missed class.

It wasn't but ten minutes before Ella's mom came and hurried Max off to her house. Ella rubbed Max's back in a comforting and empathetic manner and asked if she was sure that she'd be all right. In response, Max nodded but didn't look too certain. She and Ella hugged, and Ella whispered something to her, looking a little worried. Max shook her head with a perplexed look but dropped it. She gave me a tentative, one-arm hug, which was sort of out of character for her, but I brushed it off. Brigid waved a little, looking sincerely concerned. She _did_ wave back, though hesitantly, like she wasn't sure why Brigid would say goodbye in a civil fashion.

After they had left, Ella gave me a genuine glare—something I rarely saw from her—and turned away irritably in the direction of her fifth period class. I shook my head in bewilderment and instead of focusing on that, focused on the conversation that Brigid had taken up again.

* * *

><p>"FANG!" My mom screamed up the stairs to me, standing at the bottom of the stair way, purse in hand. "ARE YOU COMING OR NOT?"<p>

I popped my head out of my room and looked at her. "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

"SHOPPING."

"I'LL PASS."

"NO, MISTER, I MEANT _CHRISTMAS_ SHOPPING."

I didn't say anything for a moment, thinking over it for a moment. I had so many other things I needed to finish; did I really have to go shopping _then_?

Oh, wait, I mentally face palmed. I had two days before Christmas and I had only gotten Mom, Dad, Iggy, and Gazzy's presents.

I'm smart.

"YOU _DO_ NEED TO GET YOUR FRIENDS' PRESENTS, RIGHT?" She tried again. I nodded and told her to give me a second to get my shoes and stuff on.

"GREAT. IGGY IS COMING ALSO, IN CASE YOU WANTED TO KNOW."

Twenty minutes later, we had arrived at the mall. Obviously, there were a bunch of teenagers hanging out, since school had just gotten out and Christmas had nearly arrived. I saw tons of people that I knew, and unless for some reason we didn't like each other, they would nod at me in a sort of joking way, making fun of how I always did that. I'd grin a little and nod back. Iggy would greet back with fake enthusiasm, when we all knew that he was just poking fun at people who act like that constantly.

It was less embarrassing to be with Mom while Iggy was there. I really could've gone alone, since, you know, I had my license and all…but I knew that Mom would be upset if I chose to go later just I didn't want to go with her. So I sucked it up and went along with it.

"What the heck am I supposed to get Ella?" Iggy muttered. I patted his back sympathetically, shrugged, and rolled my eyes. It was official by then that they were, indeed, going out. And despite common belief, Ella was a _lot_ harder to shop for than you'd originally think.

"Are you and Brigid going out or what?" he asked suddenly.

I shrugged again, not wanting to really talk about it. Thankfully, he realized that and left the subject alone. Brigid and I weren't really going out—we were still friends and all, and the date had gone considerably well, but…I just didn't know really.

Max was annoyed with me. For some reason, she'd decided to flip at me and then not tell me why she even did in the first place. Ella had also, and neither would explain themselves, though at least they weren't incredibly angry at me anymore. For a couple of days, Ella wouldn't talk to me and glared at me whenever no one else was around. Max didn't do that, but for a while she wouldn't say anything and scowled at the ground. She and Ella shared more private conversations all of the sudden, and it made no sense to any of us guys. Nudge—the lucky girl—either understood exactly, or they told her, because she started acting a little more irritable with me too, but not for very long, thank God.

That having been explained, I really wanted to get Max something incredibly this year. I wasn't exactly sure what it was going to be, but I was hoping that the _fantastic_ gift would make her forgive me for whatever the heck it was that I had done to make her so mad, and then realize her undying love for me.

…

*Cough *.

…Anyways…

I had been thinking of a couple things, but I still wasn't completely sure. I didn't want to get her something cliché, like, say…a ring, because that was definitely _not _Max's scene. But I felt like anything else wouldn't really be enough, you know? And—dear Lord, \help me—I was worried. Ha, Fang _worried? _Over a_ present?_ Yeah, I know…Shut up about it.

Mom ran off after a moment to go get some shopping for us done while we went to the food court to eat. I didn't know why she'd have us come along to the mall while she was getting our presents, but I didn't comment on it.

Not too long later, we finished eating and Mom joined us to go finish up. A thought hit me and I had to stop myself from grinning. I knew exactly what I was getting Max.

**(HFFN: Ha-ha, no, it's not going to be cliché…I hope…D:) **

Thankfully, it didn't take very long to get Dad, Angel, and Nudge's presents. For Dad, anything golf related. For Angel, anything pink and she was pretty much happy. And for Nudge, she would take anything from Forever 21, up-to-date, or what she would describe as "cute". Ella on the other hand…well, like I said, she was a lot harder to shop for then the rest.

It took us about forty-five minutes to an hour to get Ella's Christmas present. Iggy forced me to help him, but since he obviously knew her better than I did, I didn't end up being much help. Sooner or later, he settled on what he would get her. See, Ella had always had an obsession with photography, so he spent all of the money he'd had saved up to get her this super fancy camera and lighting equipment. It was some sort of Canon camcorder, though I couldn't ever remember what exactly it was.

By the time that we had arrived back at home, we had just about everyone's present. What I was getting Max wasn't found at the mall though, so we had to make a thirty-minute detour to Guitar Center. (Hey, look! There's a hint for 'ya, in case you wondered.)

"I wish this wasn't so expensive," Iggy mumbled as we hopped out of our car once we had parked it in the driveway, glancing at the bags in his hand that held the camcorder and equipment. "Well, at least you know that she'll love it," Mom chirped, stepping out with a couple bags, plus her purse. Iggy nodded, muttering something to him as we made our way inside.

* * *

><p><strong>Max's POV:<strong>

Twenty-four hours later and we were finally having our Christmas (Eve) dinner. Everyone was seated around the dining table, laughing up a storm and generally enjoying themselves. I was smiling like crazy, really enjoying being with them. Christmas was, honestly, my favorite holiday, even if I wasn't very religious. 'Course, I didn't just like it because of presents and jazz, but other reasons. I just…loved winter a lot. Sadly, though, it wasn't snowing and it hadn't snowed on Christmas Day for the past thirty-seven years. I would've been so psyched if it had snowed even just a bit, but…nothing. I wished that Nudge and Ella were there, but they were off with their family.

"Okay, time for presents!" Mrs. Walker announced, and Angel squealed, excited. Gazzy did too, but tried to cover it up since he was a boy and he didn't want to be seen squealing…even if he _was_ only eight. My Lord, he was just so much like Iggy, it was insane!

That put aside, on with the story. Everyone jumped from their seats and went into the living room. Mom, Mrs. Walker, and Mr. Walker watched us get set up. I sat on the couch with Iggy and Fang, while Angel sat in front of Iggy's feet and Gazzy claimed the black La-Z-Boy. The parents got the other couch and the rocking chair in the corner of the room. All of us were centered around the fireplace, the Christmas tree in the right corner near the parents, though Angel and Gazzy always handed the presents out to us. We had done the same routine every year for nine years, and we weren't about to stop then.

"Angie, Gasman, you want to pass the presents out?" Mom asked them and they nodded enthusiastically, starting. We also went from youngest the oldest when opening presents, so Angel was always first. When they finished, Angel arranged her presents around her like it was a fortress. The younger ones always seemed to get more, but none of us very much minded anyways, so it's not like it mattered. Angel opened the present from me first, and it was so cute, the way her entire face lit up when she took a white bear with black button eyes out of the bag. "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" she exclaimed, hugging it to her chest. "Thank you sooo much Max!" I nodded and smiled, telling her that she was welcome.

Next, Gazzy opened the one from Mr. Walker, and it was one of those really cool remote-controlled helicopters with built in cameras so you can record stuff from the angle that the helicopter is at. He beamed and thanked his dad, attempting to get it out of the package right away.

Then it was my turn. Yes, I was the third youngest, as sad as that sounds, but only because Iggy and Fang are twins, and they're only two months older than me, thank you very much! I opened the one from Iggy to find the Chameleon Circuit album, _Still Got Legs_. "Thanks Ig!" I said, actually meaning it. Mrs. Walker had me hold it up so she could get a picture of me with it, and when that was done; I flipped it over to see all the songs on the back. I already knew a lot of them, thanks muchly for the internet, but it was nice knowing that I had them and hadn't downloaded them illegally from one of those music-sharing-youtube-to-mp3 websites. I always felt bad about doing that, but I did it anyways. Every music lover has done or is going to do that at some point in their life.

Iggy decided to go before Fang, and he opened the one from Gazzy. 'Course it had to do something with explosives, and therefore he absolutely loved it. The Gasman was super happy that Iggy liked his gift, grinning at us, dimples showing. Fang went after, of course, and opened the one from his mom. It was a black, gold, and red sweater with a large letter "N" on the front. "Oh my gosh, it's a Weasley sweater!" Iggy suddenly realized, looking really excited about this news. Fang gave him a weird look and nodded as if talking to a young child. "Thanks Mom," he said, putting it back in the bag. She smiled but made him take it back out to take a picture.

After a while of unwrapping things and nearly every last bit of wrapping paper was tossed carelessly in front of us, I was done to the last two presents I had to open—the one from Fang and the one from Mom. I opened Fang's second to last and removed the wrapping paper from strangely packaged box, to reveal a light blue, concert ukulele. I gasped. "Oh my God, this is literally _exactly_ what I asked for!" I said, a little in shock. The ukulele I had before that was just a normal, brown/gold soprano but I'd wanted a concert for a while. "This…is flipping EXCITING!" I said, taking it from the package and strumming a few chords to try it out.

"That's not all," he said, pointing to the side of it. I flipped it over carefully and saw that on the edge, it said:

* * *

><p><em>Maximum Ride, like a name in a fairytale… <em>

_~Fang_

* * *

><p>"Awww!" I said. Normally, I wasn't so gushy but, God! That was just so nice of him!<p>

He grinned a little at my blissful expression. "Other side," he told me, and I flipped it over again.

* * *

><p><em>"Have you ever fancied someone you shouldn't? Hurts, doesn't it? But it's a good kind of hurt."<em>

* * *

><p>"Thank you!" I said, getting up from my seat and hugging him. "I love it," I said into his shoulder and he grinned slightly. For the rest of the time, I playedstrummed my new concert ukulele a little, not used to the size. My soprano was a lot smaller than that one.

I felt bad that I hadn't gotten Fang something super awesome in return, but he seemed fine with his present, so that made me feel a little less guilty.

It was getting late before something else that was pretty eventful happened. Angel and Gazzy were getting to bed, hoping that Santa Clause would come faster than. Everyone else stayed up a little longer and talked and sooner or later, we cleaned up the living room, since we'd made a pretty big mess with all of the wrapping paper and ribbon and boxes and things. Mrs. Walker went to sleep at around ten o'clock, since she had always liked to go to bed early, but no one else did.

Anyways, that happened. Nothing worth telling you happened for another hour though, when my mom and I were getting ready to leave and Mr. Walker was getting to bed. Iggy had locked himself up in his room (or as we all called it: his Cave) and so it was just Fang and I standing around, waiting for my mom. We started up a normal conversation, and I again thanked him for the present, and he said that it was no big deal.

That was when we noticed the mistletoe hanging on the doorframe, as cliché as it was.

"Oh, God," I muttered, laughingly nervously, and hooking a piece of hair behind my ear. What? Maximum Ride? _Nervous_? Never! What are _you_ talking about?

Fang grinned slightly and glanced at it. "Tradition," he explained quietly, before bending down in one swift movement and kissing me on the lips like it was normal.

It's not like it was a long kiss—it only lasted about three seconds, but it was enough to make my brain turn to mush for a moment, and then when I realized what had just happened, it was also enough for me to look down awkwardly and blush a scarlet red.

"Umm…That…" I stumbled, trying to think of something to say. "That was…"

"Different?" he tried.

I nodded, still not looking up. "Uh, I guess that word works too."

Before I could embarrass myself any further, my mother came to my rescue by walking back in the room and announcing that it was time for us to go home. I nodded and followed her mutely, trying to keep away the blush…but to no avail.

"Bye," I called behind me to Fang, who had Mr. Walker standing next to him by then. "I'll, uh, see you tomorrow."

_Oh, good Lord_, I much more awkward could I even get? Honestly!

Then I had an epiphany…one that I probably should've had a long time before then, but better late than never, right?

I realized why I was so nervous about the mistletoe, and why I was brain dead after, and why I got that weird fluttering in my stomach when he smiled, or why I felt like I was lying to myself when I repeatedly told Ella that I wasn't jealous.

Oh crap. I had taken a fancy to my best friend! _CRAP-CRAP-CRAP-CRAPITTY-CRAP-CRAP_!

The only question I had left was:

Did Fang still like me?

* * *

><p><strong>HFFN: 17, 796 words = 29 pages on Word. I warned you that it'd be super long. <strong>

**RW: You won't understand the thing with the quotes on the ukulele unless you've seen season 5 of Doctor Who. You don't have to understand though, just know that's it's supposed to be cute.**

**HFFN: Yes, they kissed. Yes, they're both freaking out. Yes, Fang and Max are OOC. And YES, this was a very cliche and average chapter, but oh freaking well.**

**RW: Review pleeaasse! **

**~The High-Fives For Nothing and Ravenclaw Wings**


	5. THIS IS A NOTE BUT IT HAS A PREVIEW

**HFFN: **OH GOD

**RW: **WE ARE SO FLIPPING SORRY

**HFFN: **SERIOUSLY, WE DIDN'T MEAN TO BE GONE THIS LONG, WE SWEAR!

**RW: **IT JUST KIND OF...HAPPENED

**HFFN: **BUT THE NEXT CHAPTER IS ALMOST DONE AND SINCE WE FEEL LIKE BUTTS, WE'RE GOING TO GIVE YOU A PREVIEW OF IT, ALRIGHT?

**RW: **ALRIGHT, HERE WE GO!

* * *

><p><strong>Max's POV:<strong>

"Hey, um. I'm going to a party tonight, and I need you to come so I don't…die or something," he said over the phone. I knew he was going to a party that involved the Red Headed Wonder. Maybe she'd wear a shirt this time. Maybe.

"Yeah, um, I'm babysitting…" I lied. In reality, I was lying on my bed, trying to read _It's Kind of a Funny Story, _by Ned Vizzini, and that was my plan for the rest of the night. The house was empty and I had music playing from my iPhone, which was plugged into the speaker. Mom went away on a business trip to California for three days, and it was the first day.

"You don't baby-sit. You hate kids."

"I do not! I absolutely adore them!"

"Max." He sighed, sounding, dare I say it? —A bit…well, desperate. "Just come, it's in my last couple weeks before I move."

"I just don't want to get drunk and have some guy give me a DRD. I'm in the mood to not have to wake up next to some total stranger."

"What if you woke up to me?"

"I'd slap you, then throw you out of a window. How's that?"

"I'd love to see you try. I'm forty pounds more than you," I could hear him smirking. He had known he won with that.

"Shut up. I could kick your butt into next Wednesday if I wanted to, and you know it!"

I could still hear him smirking when he said, "Sure you could."

"That's it!" I replied, "You're now grounded from talking to me over the phone for the rest of the night." I hung up the phone without even saying a goodbye, or letting him respond for that matter. It was about eight o'clock, and I did just as I had planned until about midnight: read.

* * *

><p><strong>3:42 AM.<strong>

* * *

><p>The doorbell rang.<p>

Let me repeat that sentence:

The _doorbell_ _rang_, at _three_-_forty_-_two_ _AM_, on a Friday, (Saturday, technically) while I was _home alone_ and half asleep.

DO YOU REALIZE HOW FREAKING _TERR_IFYING THAT ACTUALLY WAS?

No?

Well, you're a jerk.

Anyways, it was horrifying.

When it rang the first time, I just groaned and rolled over, trying to fall back asleep. Then it rang a second time. I groaned again, and threw a pillow at my door. Then a third. And on the third, I realized that I probably should've gotten up to go answer it. So I took my phone from my bedside table and checked the time, to see that it was very early in the morning. Then I realized that it was still dark outside, someone I did not know was at the door, and I was the only person in the house.

That was when I started to basically have a panic attack.

I fell out of my bed on accident, and cursed myself for altering the murderer that I was there and awake. I held my breath, and waited to hear something, anything, that would tell me that there was someone else in the house. I didn't hear a single sound besides the ticking of my wall clock and my ragged breathing, and the eerie silence only made it worse.

Finally, I plucked up the courage to pull myself from the ground and tiptoe over to my window. I pulled the curtain back ever so lightly to see a familiar looking, old pick-up truck in my driveway. Fang's pick up truck, to be exact.

I let out the breath I'd been holding and calmed myself down. Just in case it wasn't him, I looked for something I could use as protection against the 'murderer'. The only thing I actually found was my ukulele, which admittedly would probably hurt when hit upside the head. I leaned to down slowly to pick it up, and bent back up so that I wouldn't make any noise.

I walked quickly (but quietly) down my stairs, and into the entrance hall where the double doors were. I hesitantly opened one of them, and peeked out to see Fang, as I had hoped. Except, he had something in his hand that looked a little like a container of some sort. I set my ukulele down against the wall, and opened the door wider. He stumbled in. "Whoa!" I caught his shoulder before he could knock me over, and I pulled him back. In his right hand he held a beer bottle. I stared at him in disbelief, before ripping it from his hand (basically) and waving it in front of his face angrily.

"Drinking? That's what you've been doing? Didn't I tell you not to?" I said, in a rough whisper. He just gave me an idiotic smile, and slurred loudly, "_Actu'lly_, you didn't say _anythin'_ about _drinking_." Then he started to laugh a little bit. I rolled my eyes and pointed at my front yard that was outside my front door. I stepped out half way onto my porch, and threw the bottle. It shattered. I didn't notice.

"You're so _STUPID_!" I yelled, starting to get even angrier. He just smiled again, and stuck out his tongue. He put his tongue back in his mouth, and laughed a little more. "How did you even get here? And with your car? What?" I mumbled, worried while still pissed.

"Max, I need somewhere to sleep. _Mom_ lock' me out again! YA HEAR DAT MOMMA? YOU LOCKED ME OUT, YA JERK!"

Yep. He was drunk.

"Oh my God," I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose and pulling him inside my house. "You are such a…such an…such an _IDIOT_!" I whisper-yelled. "I would call you something _else_, but you're _LITTLE SISTER_ is in the next house over!"

He chuckled and took a step closer to me. Before I could take a step back, he quickly put both of his hands on my face. He started to squish my face, and squished my cheeks up and down. He just laughed, and I gave them a death glare. If our expression were emoticons right then, we'd look something like…

Fang: ^.^

Me: -_-

He put his hands down, and I slapped him across the face.

"Ow," he muttered, rubbing his check. "Tha' hurt, Max! Tha' really, really hurt!" he managed to complain loudly.

"Get to the couch, I'll grab you a blanket. Got it?" I ordered, and Fang nodded quickly, giving me a loose salute and laughing again. I rolled my eyes, and turned around to start walking to get a blanket. I went upstairs into my room, and opened my closet. I grabbed the dark green blanket that Fang bought for him-self to keep at my house when he slept over. I shut the closet door softly (even though we were the only ones in the house), turned, and walked back out of my room and downstairs.

When I came back downstairs, he was sitting on the counter top, not moving. I gave him a weird look. It's not like that was the first time that Fang had ever gotten drunk—there was a couple of other times in Freshman year, in which a _lot_ of odd things happened—but I'd never _seen_ him drunk, so for me, it was a little…unnerving. He was so bubbly and annoying—not that he wasn't usually annoying anyways. But then he was also just really _loud_ and _talkative_, and _emotional_ the whole time. It was just…flat out bizarre.

Once he saw me come back, he jumped down from the counter top and grinned widely. "Maxi!" he yelled, holding his arms out as if for a hug. I ignored that and pushed passed him. He followed me while I threw the blanket onto the couch and situated the pillows. I turned back around to go upstairs again, and he was directly behind me, looking at me in a strange way.

"What?" I questioned, while he scrunched up his face in a some-what-thoughtful way. I slapped his hand away when he started to reach for a piece of my hair, which was still messy from having just woken up. "No," I said sternly, as if talking to a dog, and pointing my index finger at him. He pouted like a little kid and crossed his arms over his chest. I rolled my eyes and started to push passed him. He blocked my way.

"Yer mad," he stated.

"Well no freaking duh."

"Why?"

"Because you're an idiot." Then I got passed him and went up to my room. I could hear him saying something to me, but didn't bother to listen to what it was.

I came back down a moment later, this time with a pillow and another blanket. I threw them on the couch too, next to where he had sat down. He smiled at me and I ignored it.

As you can tell, I wasn't too happy with our dear Fangles at the time.

He got up (again) and started following me (again). It was actually getting _really_ bothersome, so I turned around and sighed. "What," I half-deadpanned.

He smiled again and took a couple steps closer. I could smell the alcohol in his breath when he (kind of) said, "Yer really pret'y."

"Um, thanks, I guess," I said, not exactly sure how to answer that. I mean, he was _drunk_, so obviously he was going to say a lot of random and unusual things.

Then he took another step, and I was up against a wall this time. "Um," I said.

"I don' think I ever tol' you this," he slurred, "but I love you. I really, really love you." He frowned this time though. "Don' remem'er why I di'n' tell you earlier…" he muttered, looking down and scrunching his eyebrows together. Before I had a chance to get away, he put his hands on either side of my head and leaned down so our foreheads were touching. "What are you doing," was my automatic reaction, but clearly, he didn't answer. "Max," he said. Next thing I knew, he had his lips pressed against mine.

I don't know why, but I kissed him back. Some part of me, I guess, wished that he wasn't doing this while completely wasted, and the other part didn't give a crap.

It was a bit weird, though, kissing Fang. Only one other time had I ever done that and it only lasted for a couple of seconds—plus, that time, I was so shocked that I didn't even kiss him back! This time, though, I knew he most likely wouldn't remember it when he woke up the next day—and if he did, I thought, wouldn't that kind of be a good thing? —So I just…well, you know, returned it.

That some part of me that didn't give a crap if he was wasted or not decided to go all out, and my hands went up to his hair. He slid his hands down so they rested on my waist and it sent tingles up my spine. The kiss was sloppy, messy, and he smelled and tasted disgustingly of alcohol, but I didn't care. The doesn't-give-a-crap side completely took over.

Then the I-wish-this-actually-meant-something side made an entrance and I realized what I was (/we where) doing. I pulled back in shock and he just looked at me with a stupid grin on his stupid face.

I dropped my hands from his hair, took his hands from my waist, and moved away. I thanked the heavens that my mom was in an entirely different state because, God, would she be annoyed.

Not that _I_ wasn't already.

I could feel him looking at me in confusion but didn't turn around to meet his eyes. Instead, I looked at the ground and cleared my throat awkwardly. "Why do I even bother," I muttered.

* * *

><p><strong>(HFFN: First kissing scene I've ever written! Woot woot! Yeah, um, ignore how crappy that is. I've never even remotely been in a relationship, so I've just been going by what I've read in other things and stuff...)<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>HFFN: <strong>Penny for your thoughts?

**RW: **But I think since we've been this gone, they should be able to charge us more

**HFFN: **ANYWAYS SO YEAH YOU SHOULD REVIEW AND STUFF AND THE NEXT CHAPPIE WILL BE UP SOMETIMES RELATIVELY SOON AND STUFF. SO. UH. YEAH. UH. BYE

**RW: **'KAY, BYE, WE'LL TRY NOT TO BE GONE AS LONG AS LAST TIME

**HFFN: **WE WILL TRY INCREDIBLY HARD, YOU HAVE NO IDEA

**RW: **YES, VERY MUCHLY, YOU GUISE, SO, UH, BYE AND STUFF


	6. Chapter 5

**Max's POV:**

_"You eat like a boy," Nudge told me with a look of disgust._

"_I do not!" I said, shoving a handful of popcorn in my mouth. She gave me a look. I sighed, relaxing more into the couch, but kept eating the delicious, buttery, and rather fattening food. Not that I really cared so much about the fattening part. _

_After swallowing, I gave in, "…Yeah, I do." She laughed, turning her attention back to the show that was playing on the TV. _

"_Hey Max." _

"_Yep?"_

"_Do you think I talk too much?"_

_I didn't answer for a moment. She started to say, "I just wanted to know 'cause you guys always say that I—"_

_I cut her off by laughing. She gave me a weird—and slightly insulted—look but stopped trying to explain herself nonetheless. "Nudge, you talk a lot—we've always known that. But that's okay 'cause you're Nudge and that's what Nudge does."_

"_So it's like how if I were Max, I would eat like a boy?"_

"_Hey," I warned and she giggled, a high pitch sound that was admittedly adorable. I shoved another handful of popcorn into my mouth. "Don't be making fun." _

_She only shook her head and continued to listen to the TV. After another moment, the smile she'd kept disappeared and her eyes traveled down to the floor. _

"_There something wrong?" I asked. She shook her head and answered, "No, no, I'm fine, just thinking." _

_I nodded and went back to the show. She grabbed the remote off of the coffee table and asked me if she could change channels. I said yes and she flipped to TLC, where _America's Next Top Model_ was playing. I, myself, had never liked that show, not once in my life—however, a lot of other people did, including our dearest Nudgy-pudge, and I wasn't very much paying attention anyway, so I let her watch it. _

_Once a commercial came on, she muted the television and told me, "I was reading this book, _PaperTowns_ by John Green—I think you've read it—and remember, in it said stuff about paper girls and paper boys and paper, well, towns. The definition of it varied, but one of them is this idealized creature that has been turned two dimensional, and in it says that Margo is considered a 'paper girl'—and that got me thinking. What if there are paper kids where we are, like Lissa, and then I got another thought—what if we _ourselves_ are paper kids and just don't realize it because we actually kind of enjoy being that? And what if since Lissa is a paper girl and everyone looks at her as if she isn't a person, but a goddess—'we either idealize them as gods or dismiss them as animals'—and because of that, no one understands that there's Lissa the person, and that Lissa the person feels all the things we feel and deserves a good life just as much as we do?"_

_I had never heard Nudge say something quite like that before and didn't really know how to respond to that. Sure, I had read the book before, but I don't think I had thought about the idea of a paper person much, because I guess Lissa was still this terrible being in my mind that wasn't really considered a person. But maybe Nudge was right—maybe Lissa really was just a person, just a girl, who could become lonely and unsure and hopeless and in need of someone to talk to—but maybe like Margo from that book, she was idealized so much that no one really figured that's what she needed. Maybe there were different versions of Lissa and everyone saw a different one. _

_But then again, maybe I was reading into things too deeply. Maybe she really _was_ just a girl—but maybe she was just a _mean_ girl. Maybe she _did_ feel lonely and unsure and hopeless, but maybe not everyone idealized her to the point of isolation, and maybe I should've just not let the thought cross my mind ever again. But the thought stayed for a while, though locked up and nearly forgotten, but every now and then, I'd go back and marvel at it. And I would do that for another couple of years until I came to the conclusion that not everyone who acted rude was made of paper. _

* * *

><p>When on Christmas, after we'd finished presents and stuff, I went up to my room for a bit. I flopped down on the comforter, my arms spread out next to me, staring at the ceiling. I bit the bottom of my lip and tried to comprehend what had happened the day before. To be honest with you, I was a bit worried that Fang wouldn't want to talk to me after that, but I tried to shake that terrible feeling off, putting a fake smile on my face and telling myself, "it's all right. You're all right. Fang isn't going to suddenly hate you."<p>

The coaching didn't help with my self-confidence.

But nonetheless, I got up from my position, and reached for my iPhone, which was on my bedside table, charging. I picked it up, and tried to steady my breathing. Before I could loose my courage, I dialed Fang's number and pressed it to my ear. I took a deep breath and waited for him to pick up.

Either fortunately or unfortunately, his deep voice flitted through the speaker after the third ring, greeting me with a "Hey Max."

"Hey," I said back. "Um, merry Christmas." It was, evidently, now impossible for me to say anything to him without thinking about yesterday, which did make me a bit nervous, but I'd like to say that I contained it pretty well.

I could pretty much hear him rubbing the back of his neck nervously like he always did, and stare at the ceiling so as not to appear tense. 'Course, I couldn't see him, so by then I suppose it was more of a habit thing than anything. "Merry Christmas to you too."

"Uh, whadya get?"

"Books, ITunes gift card, camera…"

"What books?"

"_Lord of the Rings_ series."

"Ah. I'll have to borrow those from you sometime. I've been meaning to read _The_ _Hobbit_, but I haven't had much time to go to a book store, and you know how small the school's library is."

"Yeah…"

"…"

"…"

"Well, ***."

"What?"

"We're back to the awkward silence thing, aren't we?"

"…I suppose…"

"Guess what, Fang."

"What?"

"My aunt and uncle are having a party-type-thing-a-ma-jig about two weeks, and they said we could invite anyone we wanted, so…"

"So…?"

"Dude, seriously, is it _that_ hard to figure out or are you just trying to embarrass me?"

"I'm just trying to embarrass you."

"_Uuuggghhhh_. Boys are so _frus_trating!"

"…"

"Shut it, boy, I know you're smirking. Anyways, you wanna go with me?"

"Sure. I guess I'm sort of your date then, huh?"

"Shut up."

"I know you're blushing," he mocked.

"Oh gee, you think?"

"And I know that made you blush even more."

"Dude, I'm gonna hang up if you don't shut your abnormally-chattery-mouth right now."

He chuckled. "Fine, fine, I'll stop."

_God_, I loved his chuckle.

And I really needed to stop thinking like that while I was _freaking talking to him_.

"…Uh, Max?"

"Huh?"

"You alright?"

"Um, yeah, sure, let's go with that."

After a bit more, we hung up and I called Ella. This is how my conversation(s) with her went down:

"Oh, God, Ella, I'm so freaking deep in!"

"Max, what are you talking about?"

"I can't…I…I don't even…UGH!"

"Calm down, M. Calm down and explain to Auntie Ella what exactly happened."

"…Okay, okay, I'm going to ignore the fact that you just called me 'M', and referred to yourself in third person, calling yourself 'Auntie Ella' nonetheless, and try to form a freaking comprehendible thought besides 'OHMYGOD! WHAT THE FRICK JUST HAPPENED?'"

"Well, obviously, you can think something besides that considering you just made a sarcastic remark—"

"Shush."

"—And seriously: EXPLAIN."

"Okay, so, I was at Fang's house for Christmas Eve as per usual…"

* * *

><p>"Oh my God."<p>

"I know."

"Oh my God!"

"I know!"

"OH MY GOD!"

"Okay, Ella, I think we've established this: this is shocking news. Say something else please."

"YOU AND FANG _KISSED_!"

"…That wasn't exactly what I meant by 'something else', but sure, I guess that works too."

"I can't believe it! After years of waiting, you two are finally getting together! —"

"ELLA!"

"Huh?"

"We aren't together! We just…kissed, and then I had an epiphany, but I don't even know if he still likes me back!"

"Well, of _course_ he likes you back, silly Maxikins!"

"How would _you_ know?"

"He's literally been in love with you since you two were _twelve_. TWELVE. He hasn't fallen out of love and he isn't _going_ to, if you freaking _tell him how you feel_."

"But where's the fun in coming out with your feelings right away? It makes for a boring story."

"Ella is not amused at your unacceptable logic."

"And you're back to referring to yourself in third person. That's cool, I guess."

"Seriously, though. Go tell him."

"Girl."

"Seriously."

"_GIRL_, SERIOUSLY."

"_SER_IOUSLY GIRL, JUST, JUST _GO_. LIKE, I DON'T EVEN."

"Girl, are you for _serious_?"

"Seriously, girl, I just…JUST GO FREAKING TELL HIM."

"No."

"Why not?"

"One: that's the easy, sensible way out. And what's the fun in making sense? Two: what if he doesn't still like me and I just ruin our entire relationship?"

"You don't seriously think that, do you, Max?"

"OF COURSE I THINK THAT!"

"…"

"Ella?"

"Max, that's exactly what he's been thinking for the past…four years. I believe that kiss he gave you was his way of finally taking a chance."

"I think it was a whim."

"Max."

"Ella."

"I hope you realize that I'm glaring at you right now."

"I hope you realize that I'm shrugging nonchalantly right now."

"…"

"…"

"…I have no reply to that."

* * *

><p>I saw him the next day, of course, before the Walkers went off to meet their relatives a couple states over to celebrate. It wasn't like anything particularly new happened—he came over and we hung out. But I still couldn't fathom what exactly was happening. For the majority of my life, he'd just been my best friend, and I'd been convinced we only had brother-sister feelings for each other. Then: BANG. Nope, evidently not. <em>Apparently<em>, my stupid brain/heart/whatever-you-want-to-say-the-cause-of-this-was had to go and *** me over by making me freaking _fall_ in freaking _love_ with my freaking _best_ _friend_ as of freaking eleven years somewhere along the road. Like, _really_? Was that _really_ a good decision?

But _apparently_, some part of me thought it was, because I stayed in love with him for quite a long time. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

So we hung out in my room as normal, though the conversation was getting progressively less and less, and at one point _he_ was the one keeping it going. And as you know, Fang didn't talk much, so for him to make such an effort for something like that was unheard of since we'd been kids. Even then it wasn't common!

I was laying flat on my back on the floor, staring at the ceiling with my forearm draped over my forehead like I always did, ankles crossed. Fang was sitting on the floor too, near me, with his back against the side of my bed, his elbows resting on the top of his knees. We weren't saying anything at that point, and I wanted to speak up, but couldn't think of anything.

After a moment, I turned my head to the side to see that he was looking at me. I successfully managed to keep myself from blushing for, like, the first time ever, and held his eyes like we were in a staring contest. Turned out, he looked away first and after he did, I asked him, "What exactly are you thinking about right now?"

He shrugged and didn't say anything.

I sighed irritably. "No answer. Oh, gee, thanks for that," I mumbled. He heard anyway and grinned without looking at me.

I pulled myself up so I was sitting cross-legged next to him. He glanced at me and I got a wonderful idea.

Seeing the new, excited look my face had adorned, he did a double take, and watched me with a confused (and slightly amused) expression.

"Let's go to the tree house."

"What?"

"The tree house. Let's go there. It seems like years since we last went, I want to hang out in there."

"…"

"Sigh. Always a shrug."

"…"

"Oh, stop grinning, now come on!"

I got up and ran to the door, stuffing my old snow boots on as I went. Fang followed, as did silence, and we grabbed our coats on the way out.

We had finally gotten that day or two of snow that everyone so very much wished for, even though it was very little and during break, meaning we didn't get off for school. I stuffed my hands into a pair of leather gloves (Mum's) and I'd already been wearing a scarf so that was taken care of. Fang grabbed a pair of gloves from our huge box of winter clothing stuff, and he was wearing a black beanie.

I went out last, closing the door behind me. Fang grinned suddenly at me and said, "Race you."

I grinned back, trying my hardest to get into our normal grove that we always did. I didn't want him to think something was going on in that head of mine. "You're _so_ on." And I took off without so much as a warning.

He was right behind me of course, and shouted something about cheating to me. I only laughed, glanced at him, and quickened my pace. "You snooze, you lose," I called in a singsong voice. The snow was sticking to the bottom of my shoes and forming a sort of ice-heel, which made things a whole lot harder, but I ignored it and pushed faster.

I was almost to the tree house, in the midst of unlocking his backyard fence, when I felt arms wrap around my waist. I shrieked in shock and annoyance as he picked me up with ease (I wasn't _that_ light weight, was I?) and set me down behind him. By the time that I'd caught up with him, he was already leaning against the trunk of that old tree.

I glared at him, crossing my arms over my chest and tapping my foot in annoyance. "You cheated," I stated while he only smirked and shrugged, looking proud of himself. "As did you."

"Yes," I admitted, giving him a look, "but you literally _picked me up and set me to the side_, meaning direct contact, and I never did such a thing. I merely took off before you, but purely because it took you a moment to realize that I had announced our departure." He turned around, shaking his head with that half-smirk still on his lips, and started to climb up the uneven ladder, ignoring my irritable huff.

I followed with a bit of difficulty, due to the ice-heels I had gained on our way over. I handled it by myself pretty well; I'd like to say…up until I tried to stand up.

It was just the usual—I slipped and fell, making an idiot of myself. And, no, nothing cliché happened. He didn't catch me in a dip or whatever, like you'd always read, and there really wasn't any contact besides him helping me up afterwards.

"Ah, ***," I mumbled, taking his out stretched gloved-hand. But instead of standing up and staying up, I just slipped again, this time bringing him with me. "Oof!"

'Course, I landed in the most uncomfortable position I could have ever possibly landed in, which hurt more the second time. I grumbled something unintelligible under my breath and rubbed my arm where I landed on it.

But one look at each other, and we were sent into hysterics. (Well, more like _I_ was sent into hysterics, Fang only chuckled a bit. Stupid rock.)

I hadn't laughed like that in what felt like forever, even though it was probably only a week or so. It felt so good just being up there, in that tree house with just us, the snow falling lightly outside the window (which was really just a square hole in the wall of it with curtains drawn over) and the only sound as far as I heard was our laughter. Sure, call me sentimental, but I wished that we could've just paused time right then and there. I wished we never had to grow old, never had to grow _up_, Fang never had to move and I never had to deal with my fear of rejection. I wanted everything, the rest of our lives, to be perfect, just like that moment.

But my life wasn't a fairytale. Never had been, never would be. And I knew more than anything that there would perpetually be problems I had to deal with and fears I had to confront. Nothing could stop that.

Not too much longer after, our laughter died down and it was just the two of us, lying on the wood floor, staring in silence. My head was next to his and we were facing opposite walls, like how Pocahontas and John Smith were lying in that one scene/song about painting with the colors of the wind, in the old Disney film. My hair sprawled around my head like a kind of squid or something, and his beanie had come off, so I took it from his hands jokingly. He made a face at me, and I stuck my tongue out at him. There was a silence after, and I started fingering his necklace absentmindedly.

I think we all know what I was thinking about.

"Hey Fang?" I suddenly asked, breaking the nice atmosphere.

"Yeah?"

"Promise me something."

"What?"

"Promise me that," I paused and took a deep breath before continuing, "Promise me that once you…_leave_ for LA, you won't ever forget us." I added mentally, _promise you won't ever forget_ me.

He turned his head so that we were facing each other, his face incredibly close to mine, so close in fact, that our noses barely touched. He held my eyes, and I saw that he kept switching from my right to my left as if trying to evaluate each. "Max," he mumbled. I turned my head away to the ceiling, not liking being so close to him. He sighed again and didn't say anything.

"Promise," I said, "you'll call and text and email me and, heck, you can mail letters for all I care; just…just promise you'll keep in touch often. And 'often' in this situation rather means 'constantly'." I turned my head slightly so I could see him, and he did so too.

Before I could realize our proximity and that I _wasn't supposed to do that_, he grabbed my hand from fingering his shark-tooth necklace, and just held it, nodding his head. "I promise."

"No," I pushed, "you have to pinky-swear."

He smiled and turned his head back towards me, lifting his pinky finger up and hooking it around mine. "I swear."

I remembered something similar like this happening when we were, like, thirteen or something.

"_Don't you _ever _leave for that long again, okay?" I demanded, still not letting go. I felt him nod into my hair. _

"_I won't," he said. _

_I pulled away partially, and held out my right-hand pinky. "Pinky-swear?" He half-smiled again and hooked his finger around mine. _

"Pinky-swear."

And when I thought that _that _promise had been broken, I thought one thing to myself. If one promise can be broken, then… so can this one. Fang, himself, would never break this promise to me. He knows he can't replace someone like me, where would he find _that_ kind of psycho? Roaming the streets in L.A?

"Fang, promise me one more thing."

"Yeah?" he said, turning onto his side. He fingered my brown hair, a specific auburn streak. I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes. This felt like life or death, though I was just asking him a simple question.

"Promise me…that…if there's ever anything you absolutely need to tell me, that you will. I won't…reject you. I just want you to be entirely honest with me, since we're, you know, best friends and jazz," I said, choosing my words carefully. I grinned slightly afterwards, trying to lighten the mood a bit, though it clearly failed some. I half-hoped that he hadn't realized the double meaning behind it, and half-hoped that he had.

His reply: "I promise."

And he looked me straight in the eye and tried to tell me something with his eyes, so I knew that that had a double meaning to it also.

I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to tell him that I really _did_ love him and that I realized what a total _idiot_ I had been to stay oblivious for that long, and I wanted him to say that he still loved me back. But chances were: at that point, he probably _didn't_ still love me back. It was clear with Brigid that he'd moved on, maybe not completely (_hopefully_ not completely), but I was sure it wouldn't be long. Especially with him moving and all.

Suddenly, I felt a whole lot worse, so I got up hastily, clapped my hands, and tried for a smile. "Okay! Well, I'm getting cold. I think we should go inside now."

He nodded and got up himself. I nearly slipped on my still-intact ice heels again on the way down from the tree house. I mumbled something under my breath and once I was on the ground, I broke them off my heels, getting irritated with the snow already. "To the inside!" I announced loudly, trying for a lighter mood, trekking towards his patio door. Apparently my attempt worked, because he actually laughed and went along with my insane antics, like he always had. I wondered if he always would.

Awkward

[**Awk**-werd] _adjective_

1. Lacking skill or dexterity; clumsy.

2. Lacking grace or ease in movement: _an awkward gesture; an awkward dancer_.

3. Lacking social graces or manners: _a simple, awkward frontiersman._

4. Not well planned or designed for easy or effective use: _an awkward instrument; an awkward method._

5. Requiring caution; somewhat hazardous; dangerous: _an awkward turn in the road_.

If you were to look that up in the dictionary, those are the definitions that would come up for it. If you looked just a bit to the right, you would see a picture of me, Maximum Ride, right now.

I was riding in my mother's car, in the back seat, in between Fang and Iggy, with my mother driving and Mrs. Walker in the passenger seat, chatting away happily while we sat in uncomfortable silence for once. Normally, we wouldn't have minded being together, and normally, the silence would've been filled with our own chatter, but not then. Iggy was in a weird mood, Fang never started conversations, and I was focusing too *** trying not to hyperventilate to say something intelligible.

As if it wasn't bad _enough_ that I had just realized my…ahem…_feelings_ for dear Fangles over there, I couldn't look him in the eye without thinking about it, but then I had to get squished in a car with him, for thirty minutes, while we drove to my Aunt Stacey's house for some sort of party type-thing.

To top it all off, I was forced into wearing a freaking DRESS, AND HIGH HEELS, _AND_ LOADS OF MAKEUP. WHAT THE HECK, MAN? THAT'S NOT COOL!

The dress I was wearing was red and retro looking, with a bow tied around my waist. Right at the bow, it started flowing out, and I wore black, patterned tights underneath that. My feet were clad in black strappy heels that hurt to walk in, and my toenails and fingernails were painted red. A cream-colored shrug went along with the dress, and my hair was done up in some intricate bun. Unfortunately enough, I had been forced into wearing bright red lipstick and cat eyeliner, which, admittedly, wouldn't have looked bad if it were on anyone but me, but it _was_ on me, so it looked rather out of place. The boys were dressed up too, in green and black dress shirts with matching ties (Heehee) and black church pants.

It was some sort of banquet thing/birthday part for Uncle Jared, Stacey's husband, and Stacey had invited Mom and me, plus any guests that we wanted. Nudge and Ella were also coming, of course, but they were in an entirely different car, since there was no possible way for all of us to fit into my mother's tiny Jaguar.

And so there I was, trying not to freak out about the fact that my thigh was touching Fang's, _even though that had happened a thousand times before_, and oh, dear_ Lord, _he looked frigging_ attractive_.

Apparently, I had unconsciously been studying him, and he turned his gaze from staring out the window at the scenery, to giving me a curious look, like, _what is it? _

My eyes widened slightly, realizing that I probably looked like an idiot, and I could feel my cheeks heat up. I didn't look away though, but continued to try to keep eye contact, the way I would before I realized, Oh my gosh, Fang is _really_ hot.

I quirked an eyebrow up at him and he half-grinned at me, a weird glint in his eye like he knew something I didn't know. I gave him a skeptical look and turned my eyes to the window behind him and watched the town fly by.

After a moment of him staring at me, I turned back to looking straight ahead of me at the road in front of us. But I could still see him watching me out of the corner of my eye, and since curiosity killed the Max, I couldn't help but glance at him every couple of seconds, while he continued to study me with a small grin on his lips.

It wasn't much longer after that that he grabbed my hand gently, making me—you guessed it: _blush_. Which didn't make much sense, considering he had done that plenty of times over the eleven years that we'd been friends. I couldn't help by wonder, if Fang had really been in love with me for that long, how come he never had the same reaction to things like this that I did? I supposed it was because he'd been dealing with it for four years, and at that realization, my heart felt a little _pang_, as guilt hit it full on. He sat through hours of me prattling on and on about how hot so and so was, and how much I liked them, and all that kind of ***, and hadn't given up on me for what seemed like such a long while. Though I was pretty sure he had by the time that I had figured stuff out.

And there you have it, folks! I missed my chance. He had given up on me and fancied someone else right as I realized that the feelings were, indeed, mutual.

And this is really the point in my story that gets depressing.

I twirled my white pearl necklace around in my fingers nervously while we walked up the steps. Yes, that's right: Mum had me wear _pearls_. Like a housewife from the freaking _50's_.

The concrete walkway up to the grand, mahogany doors was extravagant, and the time it took us to walk up there was spent in silence…again. I wasn't sure why we seemed to be doing that so much, but we did and I didn't know what to do about.

Okay, sure, I could say something, but you know what I mean.

Subconsciously, my hand twitched to grab Fang's, but I resisted that desire. It occurred to me that I'd been doing stuff like that to him since we were…what, eleven? ("Stuff" meaning fake-couple-y-type-things, not _other_ things, you perverted readers) And he'd dealt with it ever since then, and look at me: I couldn't even deal with it for two weeks! It's not like it was some kind of challenge or anything, but…okay, I admit it, I looked at it as if it were one.

And since I'd never been one to back down to challenges, I grabbed his hand and intertwined our fingers like I used to do.

It still felt the same as last time. No new sparks, no tingling sensation, and my hand had never fit perfectly in his, but it felt…pleasant. Safe. And I liked it like that, so I kept it that way.

He glanced at me from the corner of his eye and I gave him a smile. He grinned in response of course, and squeezed my hand. I was going to return the gesture, when Iggy suddenly says from beside me, "Hey, I'm still here you know."

I grinned cheekily at him, and let Fang's hand drop. "'Course I know, Igster!" I exclaimed, throwing one arm over his shoulder, and my other over Fang's, pulling us in a half-group-hug while we continued up the walkway. "How could anyone ever forget about you?" I said sarcastically, but he knew my intentions weren't rude. He grinned. "That one is a mystery."

And we were back to silence. But this time, it wasn't nearly as fidgety. I let my mind wander and I started thinking about certain things. There's actually a list of what I thought about:

1. Fang

2. Why is Lissa such a bee-with-an-itch to me all the time?

3. Fang.

4. How's Iggy and Ella's relationship going?

5. Goodness, I feel like a jerk for not asking about their life…

6. Fang.

7. I'm a coward.

8. Why can't I just freaking _tell_ him?

did I wait so long?

10. Fang.

11. Oh, and did I mention Fang?

And there it is: the depressing part.

I was in love with him. I wasn't going to deny it anymore. I know that I technically wasn't supposed to know what love was at sixteen, but I was sure I loved him as much as man loved the feeling of loneliness gone when woman arrived—meaning, a whole freaking _lot_.

I wished that things weren't so complicated—I really did. Maybe in some ways, I was a bit glad that there was so much craziness going on—as I'd told Ella during our conversation over the phone: straight up confessions make for a boring and sensible story. And who ever had fun making _sense_?

Craziness, most of the time, brings attention and excitement and unpredictability, all of which I liked. Attention, not so much, but excitement and unpredictability sure were interesting. My days weren't laid out with a perfect little chart, telling me exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.

And maybe I kind of liked the heartache that came along with unpredictability. Maybe it gave me a sense that I was real and my problems weren't worthless liked they'd always been—growing up with a wonderful mother, amazing friends, and pretty much an awesome life despite the teasing from Lissa, had, like everything else, pros and cons.

Pros:

_I was happy most of the time._

_I rarely had any heartbreak._

_No one left me._

_I had no sense of being trapped._

_I had no sense of abandonment or despair or really anything that goes along with a tough life._

Cons:

_Predictability._

_Excitement was minimum._

_My problems in comparison to everyone else's were pathetic and unimportant._

_I had a sense of being trapped._

* * *

><p>If you were to look at a Venn diagram, one circle titled, <em>Things That Max is Being Forced to Do<em> and the other titled, _Things That Max Enjoys Doing_, it would be two entirely different circles.

I was standing in between Nudge and Ella whilst they chattered away to someone they had happened to strike a conversation up with. Fang and Iggy were nowhere to be seen, and Mother was in a very deep discussion with Stacy and Mrs. Walker, leaving me all alone.

"Hey, Ella?" I interrupted her, tapping her shoulder to get her attention. She turned around to look at me, dress flowing and her ponytail almost whacking my face as she did so. "Hmmm?"

"Um, I'm going to go to the bathroom, okay?"

She nodded, and then went back to the conversation.

I huffed, slightly offended, and wandered around the huge mansion for a bit, trying to find the exit, as opposed to the ladies' room. I was starting to feel smothered, and really needed to get some fresh air. Small places + Large quantity of people + Max = CATASTROPHIC EVENTS SUBSEQUENT.

So I tried to find my way out. It didn't work out very well, in case you wanted to know. I kept getting confused as to where everything was and the mass of people constantly, like; migrating didn't really help my cause. I kept getting lost and running into people and…it was really all just embarrassing.

By the time that I finally got out of the crowd, I was near hyperventilating. As you already know, I was pretty claustrophobic, so being stuck that close to **so** many people, feeling like I couldn't breathe and couldn't get out, wasn't a very smart idea on my side. But I made it out alive, if that counts for anything.

The backyard was just as posh as the rest of the place. A perfectly trimmed garden was the first thing that my eyes landed on, and then the huge fountain it was centered around, and then the patio that was nearest to me. Over the horizon, the sun was starting to set, making it look even more picturesque.

I sighed in either a dreamy way or an irritable way, choose your pick—and sat myself down on one of the chairs. It was surprisingly comfortable and it felt good to be able to rest my feet after the mad dash to get out of there.

I closed my eyes for a second, breathing in deeply, and smiled a little. The garden was amazing, I'd give them that, and I loved the fresh air. That was pretty great also.

"Whatchya doin', Max? I figured you would've been inside with Ella or Fang or, you know, me, since I'm still your friend, you know, and the party is actually kind of fun—so why you out here?" I heard Nudge call from the doorway, poking her head out to give me a curious and slightly worried look. I turned away and shrugged, answering simply, "Sitting'. Chillin'. Getting some air, I guess."

Apparently she took this as a good enough answer and nodded, smiling at me before returning inside. I went back to thinking and watching. (That totes didn't sound creepy.)

But I was interrupted again by a different voice, this time male: "Couldn't stand the crowd?"

I nodded, not very surprised to see him. He sat down in the seat next to me and I could tell out of the corner of my eye that he was looking at me.

"What 'bout you?"

"Same."

I nodded again, not saying anything.

"I'm tired."

"Figured you'd be."

I opened one eye slightly to see his expression, raising my right eyebrow. "That sounded like an insult."

"Wasn't."

I sighed. "You're speaking in sentence fragments again."

"Don't care."

I opened both my eyes to glare at his smirking face. "Now you're just doing that to annoy me."

"I know," he said, followed by a shrug.

I'm sure all of you can guess who it was by now. It seemed that he was every where I went those days, which was more or less how it had always been, and it was more or less slightly unnerving. It seemed that before, I had still thought about how attractive he was, but now that I admitted to myself that I loved him, I got more nervous (which I clearly didn't use to do) a whole lot easier. Like right then: we were just chatting naturally, enjoying each other's company, and yet I still managed to feel uncomfortable. I really should have known better.

In an attempt to change the subject and to get myself to stop freaking out, I asked, "What do ya think of the party?"

"Don't like it."

I blew a piece of hair that had gotten in my line of vision away and slouched my shoulders, resting my chin my knuckle. "Same here. But the garden's pretty, I have to admit."

"Technically you don't _have_ to."

"Oh, shut up," I said, punching his shoulders not so lightly.

"Just stating a fact."

"Well look who's in an abnormally chatter mood today, Mr. Emo Pants."

He grumbled, "I'm not emo."

"_Suuuure,_ you aren't."

"I'm not."

"Okay, Fangles," I said, patting his shoulder in a fake knowing way, "whatever floats your boat."

"Not emo," he muttered.

"Believe what you want."

Then the small chatter we had managed to keep up died down a bit so we were left in silence.

"Hey, so," he started, not looking at me. "So, uh," he scratched his neck awkwardly, "'bout Christmas Eve—"

"MAX!" Nudge yelled from the door. I hadn't even realized she was there. "WHAT?" I yelled back, even though there wasn't a need for it.

"Ella wants to talk to you!"

"Well, I'm a bit busy at the moment."

"She said that it was _reaaaally_ important," Nudge answered in a singsong voice. I sighed, and grudgingly got up, though I had actually wanted to know what dear Fangles was going to say. I gave him an apologetic look, but he just shook his head and half-grinned, his way of saying, "It's fine."

When I came back inside, I found that the crowd had calmed down a bit and it was less stuffy. Nudge dragged me along to where she said Ella was waiting to talk to me. We twisted and turned through person after person after furniture after person, until I saw a very familiar brunette standing nearby.

"Oh my God, Max!"

My eyes widened at the sight of her. I hadn't seen her in what seemed like years. "J.J?"

She nodded, smiling brightly the way she always did. Her dark brown hair was in a braid down her back, her eyes shining happily, and the dress she wore looked fantastic on her. It was blue and strapless, going down to just above her knee, and tying back at the waist with a black ribbon. Her shoulders were bare and sprinkled with freckles, as was her face, and the shoes she wore were just brown flats. Although it hadn't actually been that long, to me it felt like ages since I last saw my cousin. The last time I actually talked to her was about two years ago, and the last time I _saw_ her, it was three or four years. She was a lot more grown up.

"I can't believe it's you!" she said cheerfully. We hugged, and I smiled at her, and agreed. "It's been forever since we last met up."

"Yeah, why is that?" I asked her, though it was directed more at myself. She shook her head and sighed. "I've been trying to call you for some time now, but things have been super-duper busy, not to mention the fact that I lost your phone number a while back." She grinned sheepishly, but I waved it off. "Anyways, it's awesome to see you."

"You too! Hey, have you seen Ella anywhere?"

"Ella's here too?"

"Uh-huh," I responded, nodding. "She said she wanted to talk to me, but neither Nudge nor I can find her. Speaking of Nudge, where…?" I started to say, but when I turned around to retrieve Nudge, she'd already disappeared again. I frowned. "That's weird…"

"No matter!" J.J. said, flicking her wrist and grinning again. "I'll go with you to look for Ellie-bell. I want to see her too."

I nodded and we set off. While walking around that humungous house, we talked about what had been going on since we last called each other. (Which was a lot, by the way.)

"So how old are you now?" I asked her.

"Oh, I'm turning fifteen in May. May 16th! How old are you?" she answered. Wow. God, she'd grown up so much!

"I'm turning seventeen on June 2nd," I answered. Just then, though, I spotted Ella. "Oh, Ella!" I called, trying to get her attention. She turned around and smiled, but when she saw J.J., she looked really surprised, before an even bigger smile broke out on her face.

"Oh, hey, Max! Hello, J.J.!" she greeted us. J.J and Ella hugged and talked up a storm. I continued to stand there awkwardly for a moment while they discussed jazz, not sure what else I was supposed to do. When people looked at me, I would pretend to be looking at my phone, as if texting someone. By show of hands, how many of us have ever done that?

Yeah. A lot.

So don't you dare judge me for that!

Anyways, I was getting tired of having to pretend to be social, and told Ella, "Um, yeah, well, I'm just gonna…go do…something now, alright?" She didn't reply, still talking. I sighed. "Alright. Cool. Bye."

Right as I was turning away, J.J's hand shot out and she grabbed my arm to stop me from leaving. After giving her an expecting look, she said, "I wanted to talk with you some more! Don't leave!"

I rolled my eyes jokingly and said, "Well, if you _insist_." And she smiled a large smile, her dimples showing and her eyes lighting up again. I shrugged a shoulder and grinned in return, joining the conversation.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Max," Fang greeted from behind me. I turned around from J.J and smiled, saying hi back. I continued the conversation, trying to allow him to join, but this was <em>Fang<em> we were talking about, and he wasn't one for much social interaction.

After a little bit of him standing there awkwardly, he gestured to J.J, sort of saying, "introduction, please?" so I mentally face-palmed at my stupidity, and said, "Fang, this is my cousin J.J, J.J, this is my, uh, best friend Fang," gesturing towards each other. I cursed in my head for faltering before saying "best friend" and I couldn't help but notice that his eyes flashed a little bit of—was it hurt? Or annoyance? —something like that, when I faltered.

J.J nodded, ignoring our somewhat strange behavior, smiled, and said politely, "Oh, it's really nice to meet you! Or well, I guess we aren't just meeting, since I think I remember coming over to Max's house on time and meeting you."

He nodded in a meaningful way and responded, "Oh, yeah, I remember that time. How long ago was that?"

She shrugged. "I haven't a single clue."

But Fang said that he needed to go talk to Ella or something, and left us alone to continue our conversation. We didn't go on though. I stood there for a moment, watching his retreating form. He glanced back at one point and half-grinned at me, to which I sort-of-kind-of-okay-yeah, I blushed, and smiled too.

After, J.J gave me a knowing look. I gave her a confused one of my own. "What?"

"So that's the same Fang that I met, like, seven years ago, right?"

I nodded.

"The same one you used to play with as a kid?"

"Uh-huh. What about it?"

"Nothing." She crossed her arms and smirked. "It's just that he looks a lot different."

"Does he?"

"From what I remember—which isn't actually much, given—he's different."

"Well, what do you expect? It's been, like, a bazillion years, after all."

"'Tis true."

There was a second of silence. I shifted my weight to my other leg and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear, trying to not look like uncomfortable, considering the topic was a little odd and I didn't know how to respond.

Then, she ruined it by saying: "He's kind of hot."

"Is he," I stated, trying to look like I wasn't paying attention.

"Uh-huh. Least, I think so. You probably think so too."

I didn't respond.

"I mean, it would only make sense, given the way you two kept making lovey-dovey eyes at each other."

"We were not!" I protested in a higher voice than usual. She giggled while I scowled at her, trying to hide the blush that was sure to come. God, I hated blushing. It was such a telltale. And it was just really annoying, too. I repeated, lowering my voice to normal pitch, "I mean—we were _not_."

She gave me another obnoxiously knowing look. "_Suuuure_. I'll pretend that I believe that. I'll _also_ pretend like you totally _weren't_ flirting with him." She looked ahead again, eyes calculating—probably looking for someone.

"I wasn't," I grumbled, glaring at my shoes.

"Whatever you say."

* * *

><p>"Hey, um. I'm going to a party tonight, and I need you to come so I don't…die or something," he said over the phone. I knew he was going to a party that involved the Red Headed Wonder. Maybe she'd wear a shirt this time. Maybe.<p>

"Yeah, um, I'm babysitting…" I lied. In reality, I was lying on my bed, trying to read _It's Kind of a Funny Story, _by Ned Vizzini, and that was my plan for the rest of the night. The house was empty and I had music playing from my iPhone, which was plugged into the speaker. Mom went away on a business trip to California for three days, and it was the first day.

"You don't baby-sit. You hate kids."

"I do not! I absolutely adore them!"

"Max." He sighed, sounding, dare I say it? —A bit…well, desperate. "Just come, it's in my last couple weeks before I move."

"I just don't want to get drunk and have some guy give me a DRD. I'm in the mood to not have to wake up next to some total stranger."

"What if you woke up to me?"

"I'd slap you, then throw you out of a window. How's that?"

"I'd love to see you try. I'm forty pounds more than you," I could hear him smirking. He had known he won with that.

"Shut up. I could kick your *** into next Wednesday if I wanted to, and you know it!"

I could still hear him smirking when he said, "Sure you could."

"That's it!" I replied, "You're now grounded from talking to me over the phone for the rest of the night." I hung up the phone without even saying a goodbye, or letting him respond for that matter. It was about eight o'clock, and I did just as I had planned until about midnight: read.

**3:42 AM.**

The doorbell rang.

Let me repeat that sentence:

The _doorbell_ _rang_, at _three_-_forty_-_two_ _AM_, on a Friday, (Saturday, technically) while I was _home alone_ and half asleep.

DO YOU REALIZE HOW FREAKING _TERR_IFYING THAT ACTUALLY WAS?

No?

Well, you're stupid.

Anyways, it was horrifying.

When it rang the first time, I just groaned and rolled over, trying to fall back asleep. Then it rang a second time. I groaned again, and threw a pillow at my door. Then a third. And on the third, I realized that I probably should've gotten up to go answer it. So I took my phone from my bedside table and checked the time, to see that it was very early in the morning. Then I realized that it was still dark outside, someone I did not know was at the door, and I was the only person in the house.

That was when I started to basically have a panic attack.

I fell out of my bed on accident, and cursed myself for altering the murderer that I was there and awake. I held my breath, and waited to hear something, anything, that would tell me that there was someone else in the house. I didn't hear a single sound besides the ticking of my wall clock and my ragged breathing, and the eerie silence only made it worse.

Finally, I plucked up the courage to pull myself from the ground and tiptoe over to my window. I pulled the curtain back ever so lightly to see a familiar looking, old pick-up truck in my driveway. Fang's pick up truck, to be exact.

I let out the breath I'd been holding and calmed myself down. Just in case it wasn't him, I looked for something I could use as protection against the 'murderer'. The only thing I actually found was my ukulele, which admittedly would probably hurt when hit upside the head. I leaned to down slowly to pick it up, and bent back up so that I wouldn't make any noise.

I walked quickly (but quietly) down my stairs, and into the entrance hall where the double doors were. I hesitantly opened one of them, and peeked out to see Fang, as I had hoped. Except, he had something in his hand that looked a little like a container of some sort. I set my ukulele down against the wall, and opened the door wider. He stumbled in. "Whoa!" I caught his shoulder before he could knock me over, and I pulled him back. In his right hand he held a beer bottle. I stared at him in disbelief, before ripping it from his hand (basically) and waving it in front of his face angrily.

"Drinking? That's what you've been doing? Didn't I tell you not to?" I said, in a rough whisper. He just gave me an idiotic smile, and slurred loudly, "_Actu'lly_, you didn't say _anythin'_ about _drinking_." Then he started to laugh a little bit. I rolled my eyes and pointed at my front yard that was outside my front door. I stepped out half way onto my porch, and threw the bottle. It shattered. I didn't notice.

"You're so _STUPID_!" I yelled, starting to get even angrier. He just smiled again, and stuck out his tongue. He put his tongue back in his mouth, and laughed a little more. "How did you even get here? And with your car? What?" I mumbled, worried while still mad.

"Max, I need somewhere to sleep. _Mom_ lock' me out again! YA HEAR DAT MOMMA? YOU LOCKED ME OUT, YA JERK!"

Yep. He was drunk.

"Oh my God," I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose and pulling him inside my house. "You are such a…such an…such an _IDIOT_!" I whisper-yelled. "I would call you something _else_, but you're _LITTLE SISTER_ is in the next house over!"

He chuckled and took a step closer to me. Before I could take a step back, he quickly put both of his hands on my face. He started to squish my face, and squished my cheeks up and down. He just laughed, and I gave them a death glare. If our expression were emoticons right then, we'd look something like…

Fang: ^.^

Me: -_-

He put his hands down, and I slapped him across the face.

"Ow," he muttered, rubbing his check. "Tha' hurt, Max! Tha' really, really hurt!" he managed to complain loudly.

"Get to the couch, I'll grab you a blanket. Got it?" I ordered, and Fang nodded quickly, giving me a loose salute and laughing again. I rolled my eyes, and turned around to start walking to get a blanket. I went upstairs into my room, and opened my closet. I grabbed the dark green blanket that Fang bought for him-self to keep at my house when he slept over. I shut the closet door softly (even though we were the only ones in the house), turned, and walked back out of my room and downstairs.

When I came back downstairs, he was sitting on the counter top, not moving. I gave him a weird look. It's not like that was the first time that Fang had ever gotten drunk—there was a couple of other times in Freshman year, in which a _lot_ of odd things happened—but I'd never _seen_ him drunk, so for me, it was a little…unnerving. He was so bubbly and annoying—not that he wasn't usually annoying anyways. But then he was also just really _loud_ and _talkative_, and _emotional_ the whole time. It was just…flat out bizarre.

Once he saw me come back, he jumped down from the counter top and grinned widely. "Maxi!" he yelled, holding his arms out as if for a hug. I ignored that and pushed passed him. He followed me while I threw the blanket onto the couch and situated the pillows. I turned back around to go upstairs again, and he was directly behind me, looking at me in a strange way.

"What?" I questioned, while he scrunched up his face in a some-what-thoughtful way. I slapped his hand away when he started to reach for a piece of my hair, which was still messy from having just woken up. "No," I said sternly, as if talking to a dog, and pointing my index finger at him. He pouted like a little kid and crossed his arms over his chest. I rolled my eyes and started to push passed him. He blocked my way.

"Yer mad," he stated.

"Well no freaking duh."

"Why?"

"Because you're an idiot." Then I got passed him and went up to my room. I could hear him saying something to me, but didn't bother to listen to what it was.

I came back down a moment later, this time with a pillow and another blanket. I threw them on the couch too, next to where he had sat down. He smiled at me and I ignored it.

As you can tell, I wasn't too happy with our dear Fangles at the time.

He got up (again) and started following me (again). It was actually getting _really_ bothersome, so I turned around and sighed. "What," I half-deadpanned.

He smiled again and took a couple steps closer. I could smell the alcohol in his breath when he (kind of) said, "Yer really pret'y."

"Um, thanks, I guess," I said, not exactly sure how to answer that. I mean, he was _drunk_, so obviously he was going to say a lot of random and unusual things.

Then he took another step, and I was up against a wall this time. "Um," I said.

"I don' think I ever tol' you this," he slurred, "but I love you. I really, really love you." He frowned this time though. "Don' remem'er why I di'n' tell you earlier…" he muttered, looking down and scrunching his eyebrows together. Before I had a chance to get away, he put his hands on either side of my head and leaned down so our foreheads were touching. "What are you doing," was my automatic reaction, but clearly, he didn't answer. "Max," he said. Next thing I knew, he had his lips pressed against mine.

I don't know why, but I kissed him back. Some part of me, I guess, wished that he wasn't doing this while completely wasted, and the other part didn't give a ***.

It was a bit weird, though, kissing Fang. Only one other time had I ever done that and it only lasted for a couple of seconds—plus, that time, I was so shocked that I didn't even kiss him back! This time, though, I knew he most likely wouldn't remember it when he woke up the next day—and if he did, I thought, wouldn't that kind of be a good thing? —So I just…well, you know, returned it.

That some part of me that didn't give a crap if he was wasted or not decided to go all out, and my hands went up to his hair. He slid his hands down so they rested on my waist and it sent tingles up my spine. The kiss was sloppy, messy, and he smelled and tasted disgustingly of alcohol, but I didn't care. The doesn't-give-a-crap side completely took over.

Then the I-wish-this-actually-meant-something side made an entrance and I realized what I was (/we where) doing. I pulled back in shock and he just looked at me with a stupid grin on his stupid face.

I dropped my hands from his hair, took his hands from my waist, and moved away. I thanked the heavens that my mom was in an entirely different state because, God, would she be annoyed.

Not that _I_ wasn't already.

I could feel him looking at me in confusion but didn't turn around to meet his eyes. Instead, I looked at the ground and cleared my throat awkwardly. "Why do I even bother," I muttered.

* * *

><p>I woke up at about nine o'clock the next morning, to someone coming inside the house.<p>

"_Helllooo_!" I heard a very familiar voice call. I groaned and rolled over, not wanting to deal with anyone at the moment. I didn't get very much sleep because of, well, obviously Fang, and after _that_, I didn't fall asleep until about five o'clock AM. That's seven hours of sleep, you guys, and even though that's about my average anyways, I'd rather slept in a lot longer.

"Goaway!" I mumbled, pressing a pillow against my head while the voice that I identified as Iggy's started singing really loudly and, not surprisingly, obnoxiously. He pulled the blanket off of me and took my pillow. I winced as he drew back the curtains so light could shine it. "Did you not hear me? I said, GO AWAY!" I told him again. Before I knew what was happening, he had rolled me off my bed and onto the cold floor. "Ahh!" I exclaimed right before my side came in contact with the wood.

I sat up and glared at Iggy, who was standing on the other side of my queen-sized bed, grinning widely. "I," I said through clenched teeth, "am going to _KILL_ YOU!"

But he's somewhat smart and was out the door before I had even fully picked myself up from the ground. "JAMES MICHAEL WALKER!" I yelled down the hallway as I raced after him. He was laughing and though I'll admit that he was pretty fast, I caught up with him easily. I grabbed the back of his collar once I had reached the bottom of the stairs, and yanked him back. He laughed nervously, while I just glared at him.

Then we started laughing hysterically.

I let go and sat down on the carpeted steps, resting my elbows on my knees, still laughing a bit. Iggy sat down next to me.

"So, why, pray tell, did you wake me up at nine freaking AM, after I'd gotten very limited amount of sleep?"

"Thought you'd want breakfast," he answered. "Plus, Nudge called and asked if you, me, Ella, and Fang, wanted to go out somewhere. But why'd you not get any sleep?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose, and closed my eyes. "It's…a long story. Actually, it's not that long, I just don't feel like explaining right not. Have you not seen the giant pile of mess that's passed out on my couch?"

He shook his head in confusion and started to get up to go see what it was. "Wh—"

"Fang showed up here drunk last night." He raised one eyebrow, interested or confused or whatever. "Don't know why he was driving, considering it was 3:00 AM and he was _completely_ wasted. Started going on about y'all's mom locking him out of the house last night. He just crashed here. It was really weird seeing _Fang_ like that though, especially since he was all…_talkative_ and jazz."

Iggy nodded in understanding. "Yeah. He was with me at the party last night, but didn't leave with us. Ella had to drive since Nudge was smashed, and I just…didn't want to. Didn't get drunk, mind you, 'cause I thought _I_ was going to have to drive. When I got home, Mom was yelling or something or another, but I just kind of ignored it and went to sleep. But none other than NUDGE—"he would have finished, but I cut him off by holding up my index finger. I laughed just a tiny bit, and once again Iggy and I were having a laughing fit. Once that was over, we just sat there and talked and talked and talked, and it felt good to do that, since it seemed like forever ago when we had actually had a conversation.

He hung around longer; doing whatever he wanted, really, since, obviously, he was almost-kind-of-basically my bro. I took a shower, blow dried my hair, got dressed, and came back down with my notebook-journal-song-book-diary-thing in hand. Like the many other times, he tried to creep and see what I was writing, but I wouldn't let him. Fang continued to sleep, and while I tried not to think about him, it was proven to be hard, and the more I thought, the angrier I got, until I just had to write everything down in that book.

Iggy just hung around and watched TV. After about an hour or two, he came over to me, sitting on the stairs, still scribbling furiously into my notebook, and said, "Hey, do you want me to make us breakfast?"

I gave him a look like, _obviously_! "No freaking _duh_! You're, like, _legit_, the best cook I've ever meet and/or seen. '_Course_ I want you to make us the eats!"

"'Eats'?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow in amusement. I slapped his arm. "Shush up," I muttered. He just snickered and went back to the kitchen.

I sighed. I suppose it was time to wake up Fangles.

I pattered onto a wood floor, and over to my den. I took a couple quiet steps over to Fang, and shook his shoulder, trying to be gentle. "_Faaaang_, wake _uuuup_," I whisper/hissed, and repeated that a couple times before getting angry. If he was going to pop into my house drunk, and sleep on _my_ couch, then he was going to get up with the rest of us.

"_FANG, _GOD DANG IT! WAKE THE _HECK_ UP!" I yelled, (though I may have used slightly different language) slapping him across the face. The slap was, as some might call it, a "B++ch Slap". Luckily, Fang woke up while falling onto the floor face first. I started to crack up again, and had to put my hands on the coffee table in order to not fall onto the floor. He looked up at me, and gave me a puzzled look. It seemed like he didn't remember _anything_, and after being the night before, he probably didn't.

"Two things. First: GOD, THAT HURT. And second: why the heck am I on your couch?" he asked. Pretty long sentence for Mr. Emo Pants. I decided whether I should tell him about the kiss or not. Meh, I wouldn't tell him. But he deserved to at least know of his "adventures" the night before. Thinking about, I hoped to God that he hadn't done anything stupid before he arrived at my house…though how realistic that hope was, I didn't particularly know.

But, gracious, he probably had one heck of a hangover.

"Well, last night you showed up at my house after getting locked out of your own," I explained, and if he asked any more questions I would answer them. I thought he wouldn't ask more questions, so I turned around to walk back into the kitchen.

"Why was I locked out of my house?" he asked, catching me kind of off-guard. He _really_ didn't remember anything, did he? I turned around to face him.

"So, you remember that party you went to last night?" I told him impatiently. As you can tell, I still wasn't happy with him.

"Yeah…"

"Well, you kind of got drunk."

"Kind of?"

"Well, okay, _really _drunk."

"How drunk?"

_Drunk enough to kiss me. _"Drunk enough to do this"—I walked up to him and squished his cheeks in, the way he'd done last night to me, ignoring the strange look he gave me—"Not to mention when you yelled, 'YA HEAR DAT MOMMA? YOU LOCKED ME OUT, YA ***!'" I imitated him, though trying to be quiet.

He ran a hand through his dark hair and cursed under his breath, and I swear a tinge of pink appeared on his cheeks. After a moment, he said, "I remember Lissa talking me into drinking something."

"Bingo, it was alcohol."

"Am I allowed to arrest her for tricking me into getting drunk?"

"Not unless she did something to you afterwards."

"I remember kissing someone."

"Yeah, probably Lissa."

"No… was it you?"

For a second, I was afraid that he actually _had_ remembered when he kissed me and that I had kissed him back. But then he just half-grinned, so I knew, at that point, he was just trying to lighten the mood. Nonetheless, it made my cheeks heat up. Not to mention: it just made me even _more_ pissed off at him.

"Shut up. I'm going to help Iggy with breakfast," I said coldly, turning back around, and walking past my dining room. I walked into the kitchen when Fang's voice arose.

"DON'T TOUCH MY FOOD!" he yelled. I just kept on walking, and set up the table for three. I had just finished laying down the napkins, when someone rang the doorbell. I put down the silverware, and walked over to the front door. I pulled open the large handle, and saw Nudge standing on my front porch. She had on her flowy, dark green dress that reached her knees. She also had on her black high heels, where the top went right above her ankles.

I gestured my hand for her to come in, and asked if she wanted breakfast. She nodded her head slowly, and let a smile spread across her face. She took a couple steps into my house, and paused beside me. I looked over at Fang, and decided how I was going to get back at him for showing up drunk.

"Nudge… why don't you take a seat next to Fangles. Share about your night after he left," I suggested. She nodded, and walked into the den and took a seat across from Fang. He nodded in greeting to her and she smiled back. I heard her start to chatter away to him, though I did not feel like figuring out what she was saying.

I turned back and walked into the kitchen to help Iggy with breakfast, despite his protests. I just glared at him and insisted upon helping. He sighed, shook his head, and told me things I could do to help without blowing something up.

When I was done, I walked over to see how many dishes of food there were. Only four dishes: eggs, pancakes, toast, and bacon. There was one more thing, but I had no idea what it was.

"Hey Iggy, what's that over there?" I asked, rudely pointing over to the last dish. He glanced over, finished flipping the last pancake, then flipped his hair. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, then looked up at me.

"Oh, that's stuff for Fang and Nudge's hangover. It's homemade and I'm pretty sure it's edible or 'yummy'," he responded, acting as if he knew all about hangover medicine. He probably looked up quick remedies for hangovers.

"Oh good, I didn't want a hung-over Fang at my house all day." I said back quickly, and it was true. I was keeping Fang at my house to keep an eye on him. It was a little crazy/over-protective, but that's how I work.

I walked over to the cabinet, and grabbed four large plates. I laid them on the counter next to the stove, and waited for Iggy to finish his preparations for breakfast. As soon as he was finished I walked over, from drinking my third cup of water, and pulled each meal onto a separate plate. I took all four plates over to the big, wooden table. I set them all in the middle, and closed my eyes for a second.

"BREAKFAST IS READY!" I yelled, and as soon as I finished. I heard footsteps. God, they were like a pack of stampeding cattle!

Nudge and Fang took seats across from each other. So that left me and Iggy to sit across from each other. I took the seat next to Nudge, and she smiled as I sat down. We had something we always did if we all had breakfast together.

"Okay, group, ready?" –we all nodded—"Get set…" –Nudge and Iggy placed their hands on the table- "...GO!" We all started grabbing at the food, and pulled them onto our plates. I managed four pancakes, three strips of bacon, two pieces of toast, and one egg. You don't think I can all that? Well I can. You're a big butthole for not believing in me. All of a sudden, Iggy goes "NOM NOM NOM!" like we used to do as 12-year-olds, and we all burst into laughter. I spit my eggs out, Fang choked on his pancake, and Nudge hadn't stuffed anything into her mouth. Oh man, drinks. I suck at remembering. I got up and walked over to the fridge. I opened it up, and grabbed the milk and orange juice. I walked back over to the table, and laid it on the table. I poured myself some milk, and so did Nudge. The boys got OJ, thinking they were too manly to drink milk.

Who knows what their definition of manly is.

Trust me. That isn't it.

So the rest of breakfast was spent with some slightly disgusting eating noises, and mostly silence. We all got seconds, because there was just enough. When we finished our seconds, there was nothing left for thirds. So Iggy got up and walked over to the counter, and grabbed the hangover remedy. He placed one in front of Nudge, and in front of Fang.

"What the glob is this?" Nudge asked. She kind of pushed it back, while trying not to look rude. It didn't look that bad, in my opinion, but then again, I'd never tasted it, so...I don't know how reliable my opinion was when it came to that.

He just gave her a look. "What do you _think_ it is?"

She sighed. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever," she dismissed it with a flick of her wrist. She brought the glass to her lips cautiously before taking a sip. Her expression was one of disgust and she seemed to be choking on it. After coughing a bit, she muttered, "Yep. Definitely what I thought it would be."

I couldn't help but laugh. Iggy only rolled his eyes, and Fang was…doing whatever it was Fang did. He sat there silently drinking the hangover remedy, and gulped when he was finished. He made a large burp, and we all just laughed.

"Excuse me," he said, attempting at being polite. But he was laughing just a bit, so it didn't make him sound serious or polite. We were all just giggling, feeling like twelve year olds again. Before any of this moving stuff was going on in our lives.

"Iggy, that was the BEST thing ever! Too bad Ella wasn't here…" she said slowly, but then burst into laughter again. Ella is really polite, and if she had seen any of this I swear she would have had a fit. She would have given us a lecture, and then eat everything as the Proper People do. Meaning unlike us, the hungry cavewomen and men.

"Excuse me, you should NOT have a race to get food. You should take _turns_," Iggy said, mimicking Ella. We all giggled, oh my God we were so mean sometimes.

* * *

><p>"Max," Fang said, coming up behind me. I was in the kitchen, washing plates off from breakfast. Everyone had left me with dish duty, even though, besides Iggy, they had contributed to the breakfast just as much, if not less, than I had. They had ignored my argument, and I was left to do it, grumbling about the mess, though somewhat halfheartedly. I'd been very distracted all day, it seemed. And apparently I wasn't the only one that realized this.<p>

"Max, what is it?" he said. I disregarded what he was saying; only continuing to scrub at the plate and I didn't even look at him. I wanted him to know that I was still angry at him, and I figured that sometimes silence was worse than anything else.

"Seriously, what's wrong? You've been acting weird all day," he pestered me again. I almost wanted to give in because he just sounded incredibly sincere, but then I remembered what he had been doing the night before, and that I was still angry with him.

I shuffled around the kitchen, putting things away while he followed me like a lost puppy. _Just like last night._

And then the thought of what else happened flitted through my mind, but I simply shook my head, paying no heed to even its existence, and put the syrup back in the cabinet, while still holding the butter and milk.

Yes. I have skill.

Even I knew that I wouldn't be able to avoid him forever though, and sooner or later, I'd _have_ to say something. When I turned around from the fridge and tried to escape to the upstairs, he was literally right in front of me. When I attempted to side step him and go the other way, he'd just follow me like we were dancing or something.

I glared at him, crossing my arms over my chest. "Excuse me," I ground out impatiently. He raised an eyebrow halfway; probably still not understanding why I was acting so gruff towards him. "Ah-ah-ah," he said, waggling a finger at me, and getting in my way once more. "I am not letting you go until you talk to me."

"There. I said something. Now let me leave," I stated rudely. He gave me a look, like _seriously? _Considering he knew that I knew that wasn't what he meant. "No."

I groaned and rolled my eyes. "What do you want from me?"

"To explain why you're so angry at me!"

"Because!" I yelled back. Such a lovely comeback, I know—very clever, and let's not forget about how original it is.

He mumbled something in frustration, clenched and unclenched his fists, and stomped a foot in a very uncharacteristic manner. "God darn it, Max!"

Our voices had ridden up considerably, and I was half sure that Nudge and Iggy could hear everything that we screamed at each other. "What the freak do you want me to tell you? I told you everything already!"

"When?"

"Earlier! When you first woke up, you asked me a bunch of questions, and—what do you know—I answered them for you!" I said. "Now, _move_!"

"What the freak did I do that is so wrong?"

I shook my head, beyond angry, and started to push past him.

However, I didn't get very far, because he grabbed my wrist and twisted me back around to face him. "Let go," I demanded furiously.

"Not until you explain fully." He looked at me with such intensity that it almost made me want to run away. But I couldn't, even if I had been planning too, because, darn it; he was _still_ holding my wrist with his _flipping_ tight grip.

"Let. Go." I tried one more time.

And next thing I knew, my back was pressed up against the pantry door, his arms on either side of my head, his eyes staring straight into mine. As you can probably guess by now, I was already reminded of a previous event, and really did not feel like repeating it. I mean, sure, I wanted to kiss him, but…I knew the effect wouldn't be nearly as fantastic an experience as the cause.

"Max," he half-whispered, leaning in.

"It's nothing," I answered quietly.

"Well, clearly, it's something."

"Really," I barely replied, "it's not that big of a deal."

And before I knew what was happening, he was leaning in further and my eyes were closing subconsciously. His scent washed over me and I took a deep breath, feeling butterflies erupt in my stomach. I felt his lips brush mine lightly, incredibly lightly, sending chills up my spine.

_RIIIIIIINNG!_

I gasped faintly at the sudden noise, and he pulled back. We opened our eyes at the same time, and once we'd both realized what we were doing, he pulled back and I looked down.

"Um," I said. "I-I'll just g-go, uh, get that," I stuttered in a very un-Max-like way, hurrying off to find the house phone.

* * *

><p><strong><em>RW:<em> We suck.**

**_HFFN:_ Why, yes. Yes, we do.  
><strong>

**_RW_: LEGIT, WE APOLOGIZE  
><strong>

**_HFFN_: LEGIT  
><strong>

**_RW:_ AKFDJLAFJAKLSDFAS  
><strong>

**_HFFN_: Good news is, we've already started on the next chappie, so it hopefully won't take FIVE MONTHS. GAAAAH.  
><strong>

**_RW:_ Bad news is...  
><strong>

**_HFFN:_ The inevitable.  
><strong>

**_RW_: Fang's probably gonna leave in the next chappie.  
><strong>

**_HFFN_: WE'RE SORRY, OKAY?  
><strong>

**_RW_: WE APOLOGIZE SINCERELY  
><strong>

**_HFFN:_ LEGIT  
><strong>


	7. INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT MUST READ!

**HFFN: _OKAY, YOU GUESS, THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT_**

**_DON'T YOU DARE SKIP OVER THIS! DON'T. YOU. DARE._**

* * *

><p>OKAY, NOW THAT I'M DONE INTIMIDATING YOU INTO LISTENING,<p>

_WE HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENTS_

_DRUM ROLL PLEASE!_

**RW:** *does drum roll*

The announcement is...

**WE ARE GOING TO BE UPDATING MORE FREQUENTLY.**

BUT WITH SHORTER CHAPTERS.

Yeah.

We decided that we were being jerks making you wait months on end for a super long chapter that's just going to make you get annoyed.

**HFFN:** Personally, I prefer it when the chapters are a considerable length (meaning 2,000ish to 7,000ish), so that they update faster and I don't have to spend half an hour on one chapter. The average, according to math, for how many words in a chapter each for our fanfiction is 12,500, more or less. Which, might I mention, is quite a bit.

**RW:** And since we are going to start making shorter chapters (though basically all we're gonna do is split the chapter in half) that are more around Shelly's "considerable length" (look above if you're confused), **we _should_ be updating by..._hmm_...tomorrow?** Maybe? Kind of?

**HFFN:** Hmmm...yeeessss...tomorrow.

Anyways, you guys, happy reading and** PLEASE TELL US YOUR OPINION ON THE NEW CHANGES** in a review, please and thank you. ^-^

**RW: **Byyyyyyee! XD


	8. Chapter 6

"MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!"

"Dude, calm down."

"DO NOT TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!"

I figured he shrugged in response, but I didn't actually know, considering I was too busy to look at him. "Suit yourself, but I would rather not go deaf before I'm eighteen."

There was a loud beeping noise and I felt a vibration, before realization hit me. "Oh, God, no—NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!" I watched in horror as my character Daisy was knocked off the course. Six other characters passed her by, and before I could even get back up, I was already in 10th place.

"_GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH_!" I hollered, obviously frustrated. I sunk into my seat, defeated, but continued driving nonetheless.

As you may have caught on to by now, Fang, Nudge, and I were playing Mario Kart Wii. Iggy was upstairs, talking on the phone to someone. I was Daisy, only because stupid Fang took the character I usually play, and I was very angry at the infuriating game. I had been in 1st place the _entire_ game, and then literally only a _couple of feet from the finish line,_ a blue shell flew at me, resulting in my defeat.

Now you understand my pain, right?

"Dude!" I screamed the television screen. "_Are_ you freaking _KIDDING_ me?"

Nudge giggled slightly, which made me glare at her. Normally that would've shut any sane person up, but she was used to it, and only returned to the screen, stifling a giggle behind her hand.

There was a second of silence, in which none of us said anything, and then Fang suggested the next course we should do. I did not, however, want to do that, considering it was the one I was most terrible at, resulting in a five minute long fight between us over whether or not that was an acceptable course to do. Oh, and, uh, just to let you know: I totally won.

It seemed that we had both come to a silent argument that what happened earlier was not to be mentioned again…at least not while those two where there. And although I was putting aside my anger at him from the previous night away for the sake of Iggy and Nudge, I had not forgotten, nor had I forgiven. I was simply trying to be courteous to my other two friends, but as soon as they weren't there, I wasn't going to act so normal anymore.

When Nudge got tired of us arguing, she simply just yanked the remote from my hand and chose one herself. It was too late for us to go back, and we'd been so immersed in the, ahem, "conversation" that we hadn't even realized until it was counting down to when the race would start. I glared at her crossly, muttering complaints about her not listening to my consent, but tried in the race anyway.

Fun fact for you: I totally won that too.

By the time Iggy was done, we had already finished three other courses and one and a half games, so he had to wait for us to finish that last game before we could go do something different. He said that he wanted us to go somewhere, but I complained about the cold and how I did not feel like getting up, and Nudge argued that we were all pretty much broke anyways.

"So, what, we're just gonna sit here all day?"

"Pretty much," I admitted. "To be honest, I didn't actually ever have anything planned out in the first place."

"Well, your mom is in another state for a while, so why not take advantage of that?"

"And do what? Throw a party that is bound to be crappy anyways?" I offered sarcastically.

"Turn the radio up to full volume and scream the lyrics at the top of our lungs?" Nudge suggested, going along with my unintentional game.

And, thankfully, Mr. Emo continued it too, proposing: "Skateboard down the stairs with rock music playing behind?"

We all turned to look at him at the same time.

He shrugged, seemingly legitimately confused by our concerned expressions. "What? Cliché-ly in movies."

Nudge waved it off, saying, "Yep. _Nooooooothing_ to _doooooo_."

I thought about what was around that would be fun to go to, and mentally decided on one little place to go. I stood up abruptly and clapped my hands loudly like I usually did when I needed people to listen to me. I was right thinking that would get their attention since Fang and Nudge looked up, and Iggy walked into the room.

I waved Iggy in to the den, and he came in curiously and plopped down on the couch next to Nudge, who smiled at him.

"Okay guys. Y'all got any money?" I asked, holding out both hands, as if to gesture for donations, which I would totally do since I'm almost broke, just in case you were wondering.

"Um… yeah, I think." Iggy started digging in his abyss of a pocket. He pulled out about five dollars, and held it out. I pushed his hand back, and he stuffed it back into his pocket.

I was afraid of that.

"Yeah! I always carry around at least ten dollars in case of anything!" Nudge replied, and I nodded my head. I guess I didn't explain this, but Nudge and Ella's family is kind of rich. So she always has designer clothes, and she always has at least ten dollars with her at all times.

"Yeah…" Fang said, but then mumbled something under his breath.

"What?" I asked, noticing he was trying to look at the ground, while his cheeks were turning a nice pink color. I wondered why though, it didn't seem like it would have been that embarrassing.

"Oh, um, nothing Max," he said. I only rolled my eyes, and smiled at them all.

"We… are going to _Pied Piper_!" I exclaimed. That was our favorite ice cream shop, and it was pretty close, so that was hand-dandy. They all nodded happily, and Fang just made a small grin. At that moment, I wished he gave me one of those rare glances…except; no I didn't, because I was supposed to be mad at him and stuff. Uh. Yeah.

"Let's go! OMG I haven't been there in so long, I can't wait to see Mr. Harry! He's the best ice cream man EVER!" Nudge told us, looking excited.

We all stood, and walked out the door. I grabbed my keys off the front table, as well as my winter jacket, and I locked the door after we had all stepped out of the house. We walked down the front steps to my house, and we walked out of my driveway. Instead of going to the road to walk, I turned left to the Walker's residence. They didn't seem surprised, and followed me without question.

I turned around and stared at Fang in an expecting way. He stared back for a moment before he finally understood what I meant (I could tell because his eyes widened very slightly, which was Fang's version of sudden understanding), and pulled his car keys from his jacket pocket. I caught them with ease and ran ahead to his truck.

Although I really wasn't on best terms with him for the time being, I tried not to act like it. And he seemed to be trying to get on my good side, since he hadn't teased me all morning, seemed to be acting more cautious around me, and, biggest of all: let me drive his truck. He rarely let me do that, and this time, he handed over the keys without a problem! Really, it was a miracle of its own brand.

I hopped into the driver's seat, and unfortunately Fang got in the passenger seat. Normally, that would not be unfortunate at all, but I knew he would try to talk to me about stuff, so at that moment, I really wished for a distraction. _Of_ course, this _was_ my life, and I didn't get one. As usual.

I gave him a confused look as he closed the door and putting the seat belt on, silently asking him why he was sitting up front. He ignored my look besides telling me, "It _is_ my truck."

I didn't argue with it, mostly because it was a fair point.

Nudge and Iggy chattered away in the backseat, about anything and everything, and it was silent between Fang and I. On regular days, we'd be talking too, but…well, you already know.

"Max," Fang finally said_. Oh crap. Here it comes_, I thought.

"What," I half-deadpanned, half-asked.

"You'll have to tell me what it is at some point."

"No I won't."

"Max…"

Silence.

He sighed. "Fine. You don't have to tell me. But whatever it is I did wrong…I'm sorry."

My expression changed. I couldn't look at him when I asked this, but I said quietly, "You really don't know why I'm mad, do you?"

"No."

Of course, since I'm sympathetic and somewhat reasonable, my anger started to disappear a bit. But a little voice said _No! Remember what he did wasn't okay. Tell him why you're mad later, but don't let it slide so easily._

I listened to it. "Whatever."

A sigh. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and saw that he was staring out the window, running his left hand through his hair like he did when he was frustrated, his right elbow on the window-ledge-type-thing-whatever it's called. Unfortunately for me, he caught my eye in the window reflection, and half-smiled, probably trying to lighten the mood or something. Which, in case you didn't know, Fang didn't do often.

What.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, we arrived at the destination. _Pied Piper _was just a cute, little shop that looked almost like a house, with white window shutters and blue exterior. The yard in front of it was picturesque, with neatly trimmed bushes and an abundance of flowers sat everywhere in there cliché brown flowerpots. There were way more kinds of flowers out there than what I could even name, and two, little picnic tables sat out front, clean and sparkling like they'd never been used. The walkway was colorful and perfect, and to the side, there was a sign decorated elaborately that read "_Garden" _with a hand pointing there. There was a rose bush growing around it, up one of that garden-arch-things-that-I-don't-know-the-proper-name-of.

As you can tell, it was _very_ picturesque.

"'Kay, guys," I announced, "We have arrived at our destination!" I tried to act like I was in a cheerful mood, saying that in a singsong voice and hoping out of the car like I just couldn't wait to get inside. I was merely trying to lift everyone's spirits, because Nudge and Iggy had caught onto the uncomfortable and tense atmosphere between Fang and I, but I didn't want that ruining their day.

"WOO!" Nudge yelled and shot out with me. Iggy rolled his eyes, but was smiling, so I knew he wasn't actual annoyed. "Kids these days," he said jokingly.

Nudge and I were the first ones inside, and we got a spot in the short line. There were a fair amount of people there, but I guess that was normal, since it was a pretty popular ice cream shop, considering how delicious the sweets actually were. Fang and Iggy showed up about thirty seconds later, and stood beside us. Nudge ordered her ice cream first.

"I'd like a chocolate, vanilla, and mint ice cream scoops. With… chocolate chips, gummy bears, and cookie dough on the top! And in a cup, please and thank you!" Nudge asked/announced politely, smiling brightly, and the guy went off to work. He handed Nudge hers, smiling kindly, "Here you go."

She said thank you and began eating it without even waiting for us.

"Wow," I mused, "that is a _lot_ of ice cream." She only stuck her tongue out at me playfully, and I scrunched up my nose since she'd been eating while doing that.

"Hmm, how about some strawberry ice cream with rainbow sprinkles?" Iggy asked the worker, sounding unsure himself. The worker seemed very relieved that Iggy only asked for a simple order. Next, I ordered my special ice cream.

"I would like the choco-chunk-marshmallow swirl with cookie dough in the middle," I asked. The guy looked up, and I realized he was our age, with brown hair and green eyes. I kind of recognized him, but at the same time he was a total stranger to me.

"Oh, um, hey Max," he said. How did he know my name? Oh wait, he was in my science class. I nodded back, and waved. I didn't want it to seem like I was impolite, since I had no clue what his name was.

"Yeah, um, I'd like vanilla with Oreo pieces," Fang said quickly. I started to dig around in my pocket for the money I had brought, but Fang grabbed my wrist quickly. I looked up at him, and he was already digging for something his pocket.

"No, I'm paying for you."

"What? No," I started to protest, "You're not my boyfriend. I can pay for myself."

"I'm paying."

"Fine. Your choice, man."

He dug around in his pockets, and pulled out his black leather wallet. I grabbed my ice cream, and walked off to a table near a window. It was a really high table, with high chairs to match, so my feet didn't touch the ground.

"That'll be $7.50, thank you," the guy said, and Fang gave him the exact change. He then grabbed his ice cream, and sat across from me. Iggy and Nudge chose a seat nearest they could to us, but a lot of the places were filled up, so they ended up almost all the way on the other side of the parlor.

I started to shove bunches of ice cream into my mouth, so that I couldn't respond when Fang started to ask me things, which I was positive he was going to do.

"We _are_ going to talk," he said, more like stated, and I looked up at him. He laughed a little, and pointed at my chin. I took a napkin from the dispenser, and wiped my face, my cheeks burning a little. Stupid ice cream, why does it have to melt?

"I'm eating. Shut your face," I commanded simply, stuffing more of the delicious dairy product into my mouth. I started to make obnoxious noises to annoy him, and he just rolled his eyes. He looked almost as if he was glaring at me, but then again his hair was in front of his eyes.

"No. You're talking to me," he ordered.

"No I'm not."

"Yeah."

I shook my head.

He sighed, sounding annoyed and defeated. "Fine. Whatever."

Oh, and if you wanted to know: "Whatever" in Fanglague wasn't good. It's basically the equivalent of "whatever" in a woman's language.

Ha-ha. Fang could be so girl-like sometimes.

Which is totally weird, considering the fact of how attractive he was and how many girl described him as "sexy" and—

Anyways. I'm going to continue the story.

"If we aren't going to talk, the least you can do is get me some more ice cream, right?" I asked innocently, pushing the empty cup towards him and batting my eyelashes at him like I totally wasn't just asking that to avoid having a legit conversation.

But Fang still knew I was mad at him, and was still trying to make up for what he did wrong, so he ran his hand through his hair again, and nodded in agreement.

"Fine. Sure, whatever," he finally said. I nodded without saying anything, and that made him look even more annoyed. It was like the roles were reversed; normally it was me that was getting mad at him for not saying much. Weird how it had switched.

He got up from his seat, grabbed my cup, and made his way to the counter where that guy whose name I still couldn't remember was standing. I glanced at them a couple of times, and one of those times, the guy was looking at me, but quickly turned away when we made eye contact.

"Aack!" I heard Fang exclaim, jumping back. I looked over and saw that his front was covered in vanilla ice cream, as well as his hair. The guy shrugged, holding the ice cream scooper, and said in a half-apology-half-statement, "Oops. It slipped."

Fang just wiped as much of the ice cream as he could off with the napkin that worker-guy handed to him sheepishly, then threw it in the trashcan. He walked to our table moodily and set down the cup in front of me, and then went to the bathroom to wash the rest out. Nudge came over and sat next to me, and I took a bite of my precious choco-chunk ice cream with chocolate chip cookie dough in the middle.

"So… you still crushing on you-know-who?" she asked, and I just gave her a glare. She should've already known the answer to that, considering the fact that I would've alerted her if I all of the sudden realized that I _didn't_ actually like my best guy friend, and Ella got her caught up on all the "drama" and such. She giggled quietly, and looked down at the table. She looked back up while I was still glaring at her. I answered her quietly and bitterly, realizing that she was just going to sit there, waiting for me to answer, unless I just said it. I was a bit embarrassing to say though, because even though I had admitted it to myself, I didn't like doing it out loud.

"…Yes."

"OMG, I KNEW IT!" she screeched, even though this definitely wasn't a new fact. I slapped a hand over her mouth, and took a deep breath. I pulled my hand away, and crossed my arms. Nudge took a bite of Fang's ice cream, and went back to her seat calmly, acting as if the whole exchange hadn't even happened.

"Hey, um, Max. Can I talk to you for a sec?" Fang yelled from across the parlor. A couple of people looked at us, but I dismissed them with a flick of my wrist, using a sort of wild hand gesture to tell them that there was nothing to see.

I rolled my eyes at Fang, nodded my head, and got out of my chair sluggishly. I walked over to him, you know, how normal human beings do—but on my way I slipped on a wet spot on the floor I hadn't realized was there, and started falling backwards. Fang grabbed my wrist quickly, and pulled me back up, jerking my arm up suddenly. "Ow," I mumbled, and Fang asked if I was okay. I nodded, shaking it off. The man behind the counter glared at Fang as if he couldn't _believe_ he had just done that. Gosh, what was his problem with our dearest Fangles over here?

I never found out, you know.

Fang suddenly pulled me out a side door, which led to a really pretty garden, you know, the one I mentioned earlier, with the pretty rose bush and cool sign. I stood on the little pavement block, and stared at the scenery. It was definitely beautiful, and though it wasn't the first time I had been there, it put me in awe every single time. Flowers of all kinds lined the path walk—roses, daisies, daffodils, irises, tiger lilies; more than what I could name (though that isn't really saying much)—and trees hung over the stone path, shading it with strange but cool patterns. The sun was shining brilliantly, and little trinkets—statues, small water fountains, garden gnomes, the like, were situated everywhere in between all the flowers, and it was all very colorful. The path was straight at first, but once you started moving in more, it blew out into a circle, where, in the middle, sat a white, swinging-bench-type-thing, clean and unused.

Fang slid his hand down to my hand, and our fingers intertwined, and even though I knew I was supposed to be mad at him, I couldn't bring myself to take my hand away. It felt nice and safe and like it was supposed to be there, and if I ruined it, something bad would happen. I would screw up the "cosmic force" or some crap like that. ('Course, I didn't actually believe that. I doubt most people do.) He led me over to the white and polished swing and we sat down together. He started to move back and forth, swinging (which was the main purpose of that seat being there, but whatever) and we just kind of sat there in sweet silence, listening but not talking.

Finally, he took a deep breath, and squeezed my hand gently. I returned the gesture, pulling my legs up and sitting criss-cross while he continued to push us.

"So, Max, what happened last night?" he asked me quietly after a moment. Damn it, he took me to this garden to get THAT out of me? This boy just wouldn't give up, and I hated that.

I answered honestly, but with as few words as possible, running my fingers over the smooth surface of his shark tooth necklace. "You came to my house drunk. I already told you that."

"Yeah, but what else did I do?"

"What do you mean 'what else did you do'? You got drunk. Did stupid things. That's it." It wasn't a _total_ lie. Kissing me was a pretty stupid idea, since it just made everything way more distraught and unbearable and blah.

Unfortunately for me, though, he made the good point: "I've gotten drunk before, and you weren't nearly as pissed at me then as you are now."

I didn't answer.

"So, Max," he said, letting go of my hand, "What the flip did I do while wasted that made you act so cold to me all morning?"

I sighed. "You…" I started to tell him, but the words got quieter as I went along.

"What?"

"You…" Same as before.

He was starting to get annoyed. "Repeat that?"

"YOU KISSED ME, ALRIGHT?"

As you can tell, I lost it a bit.

He looked really surprised.

"You kissed me," I repeated heatedly, "Said something about me being pretty, having always loved or some other sort of shit, and then kissed me. Then puked, then passed out." He could definitely tell I was angry, because I only cussed when I was _really_ pissed. And I mean _REALLY._

My summary left out a lot of the rest though, but it was less annoying as it was hilarious, so I didn't bother telling him. _Especially_ while I was as angry as I was.

He looked away from me, and, if I hadn't known better, I would've said that Fang was blushing—but this was Fang we're talking about, so completely disregard that.

"Oh."

"Yeah," I snapped.

I huffed moodily, crossing my arms over my chest and looking away. It was February, but the day was particularly sunny and not nearly as cold as it usually was. Nevertheless, I curled my body up to me for more warmth.

There was an awkward/uncomfortable silence in which neither of us even bothered to move. I guess he was still thinking about what I had announced to him.

"Was it really that bad?" he spoke up in a small tone, way less confident than what he usually sounded like.

"What?" I asked, sounding a little harsher than I really meant to. I flinched at my own tone, not realizing until the word had already left my lips how rude it sounded.

"Me kissing you. Was it really so bad that you were that angry with me all morning?"

I'm not going to lie. That question really took me by surprise. I mean, it wasn't necessarily the kiss itself that bothered me, it was just…I guess I just felt like he was playing with my emotions. Acting like he liked me, then dating Brigid, then acting like he didn't like me, and then _declaring_ _his love for me_ while he was in a _drunken_ _state_ and _kissing me on the lips_. If _those_ aren't classified as mixed signals, then I don't know what are. But…a small part of me reminded myself: don't they say that when someone is drunk, they're way more truthful than normal?

I sighed quietly. We didn't make eye contact. "Well, it wasn't that that made me angry, it's just…" I couldn't figure out how to voice my thoughts. Should I have told him? Should I have not? Should I just have continued to act mad, or just brush my previous behavior off as nothing?

I didn't know how to respond, but I think he understood that. He turned to me and put a calloused hand on the top of my head affectionately, though I wasn't really sure what it meant. Just to ease my troubled mind, probably.

"It's okay if it bothered you," he told me softly, like if he spoke too loudly, I would break. I would scream. Cry. Do _something_ destructive, because apparently that was all I was capable of doing. But that was okay that he thought that. I thought it too.

"It didn't bother me," I replied. He took his hand from my head.

He titled his head to the side a very small fraction, a sign of curiosity that I had given to him. I did that too, and years of hanging around me forced that small habit/quirk upon him, I guess. "It did."

"Trust me," I reassured him, "it didn't."

We were leaning in. I set a hand on his knee without thinking about it.

"How do I know you aren't just lying to spare my feelings? I can take it, you know."

I was acting cliché and stupid, just like the rest of my life.

And I, honest to God, didn't realize what I was doing, but before I knew it…

"MAX!"

We jumped apart.

"Crap," he breathed (thought it was something a little less polite than what I censored for you guys), probably just realizing what had almost happened for the…what, like, _fourth_ time…this month? This week? _Today_?

Nudge gave me a concerned look, not realizing what was going on. But she caught on soon enough, seeing the fact that my hand was still resting on his knee, we were both blushing like mad, and I was a bit flustered, looking anywhere but him.

"Crap came up at my house, and Ella needs me, so I have to leave. Iggy said for me to find y'all and tell you that we need to leave now," she chirped happily before shooting my a small, quick, sly grin, one of which I returned with a glare.

"Coming, coming," Fang said, getting out of the seat. He turned around and looked at me, still blushing and still not making eye contact with him. I heard him chuckle softly, and he held out his hand for me to take. I did, but not without glaring the best I could and sticking my tongue out at him. He only grinned, seeming to be just entertained, and not at all confused by my behavior.

We (Nudge, Fang, and I) walked inside and then out to the car, where an expecting Iggy, stood, leaning against the truck. He grinned at us, throwing me the car keys, which I caught with one hand. Fang was still holding the other.

He didn't let go.

* * *

><p>HFFN: <strong><em>ONE<em> last present before we go to bed.**

** WAAAAAAAAAAAAH SNEAK ATTACK**

**WE COMETH BEARING AN UNEXPECTED UPDATE  
><strong>

**(not to mention a little bit of fluff there)  
><strong>

**_WHAT NOW!_  
><strong>

**There was no memory at the beginning of this because yolo.  
><strong>

**Haha, no, but seriously. The reason is because the next chapter might ONLY be a memory.  
><strong>

RW: **We are eeeeevvvvviiiiiiillllll.  
><strong>

**Now...REVIEW, I TELL YOU. REVIEW.  
><strong>

HFFN: **Yeeeeeeeeesss, reviews would make us very happy...*rubs hands together with implement evil laughter***


	9. Chapter 7

"Aaak_!" Nudge screamed, trying to hide as I sprayed her with the hose. We were outside in my driveway, washing my mum's car, two buckets of water sitting next to us, a sponge sitting in one of them (successfully making it soapy), and soap covering the car still. I had taken to spraying her instead of the car, so it remained covered in suds. There was a radio sitting off the side, near-ish to car but out of the way so I wouldn't ruin it with water, Katy Perry blaring out of its speakers. _

_Unfortunately, Fang was sick, Iggy and Ella were on a date-thing (ah, the joys of having two of your best friends going out), and Angel and Gazzy were too young to really help, so it was just us. But I hadn't spent very much quality with my dear Nudge-pudge in quite some time, so even though I liked being with everyone else, I enjoyed it just being the two. I'd forgotten for a bit how much fun she could be._

_Anyways, back to what was going on._

"_No! Stop that, I'm getting _soaked_!" she all but screeched at me, putting her hands up in front of her face as a shield. I only laughed, saying, "That would be why you're wearing a swimsuit, silly girl!" She continued to yell at me, though she was trying to hide smiling. _

_I turned the water off for a moment, and she grinned brightly…but a little mischievously. _

_I wasn't sure why she looked so happy until I turned around to set the hose away, and a splash of cold and unpleasantly foamy water over came me. I whirled around, water dripping into my face nearly stinging my eyes before I wiped it away, to see Nudge looking triumphant, holding an empty bucket. She laughed at my annoyed expression, but faltered when I growled, "You're gonna pay for that!"_

_Then she ran._

_Smart move on her part._

"_NUDGE!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, following close behind her. I stopped when a saw another bucket, filled to the brim with ice-cold water, just sitting there, basically _begging_ me to dump it all over the 13-year-old girl for revenge (I was 14 at the time, and Nudge was 13). I stopped, trying as best as I could to pick it up without spilling it or making noise, but she hadn't noticed yet that I'd stopped chasing her. I took a short cut to behind her, where she stood facing the driveway where we'd previously been, and looked around. "…Max?" She called hesitantly, a look of doubt and worry covering her face, and with good reason too. That's when I dumped the water all over her._

_She gasped, flinching, but she knew I was behind her since it was more than obvious. "MAX!" _

"_Haha!" I laughed, throwing down the bucket and running back to where we'd been before she could register what had just happened. _

_I was quiet going back, my feet barely making a sound, but I was dripping wet, so it didn't really matter anyways since every step I left a mark, leaving a little trail behind me. I hid behind the car, trying my hardest not to laugh while remembering the look on her face when I first sprayed her with water. Mom wasn't going to be very happy about the fact that we had gotten just about everything BUT the car wet. It would dry up soon though, being the middle of summer and scorching hot outside._

"_Oh, _Maaax_," she called my name in a singsong voice, walking lightly, and the look on her face was terrifying. I knew she was angry with me for messing up her hair, since when I sprayed her, I'd been careful to avoid the head area very much at least. A long, green cord slithered behind her, and I knew she was going to ambush me with the hose. Thinking quickly, I grabbed one of the buckets nearest to me, trying my hardest to not make noise. She stopped walking though, and turned in the direction of where I was. I held my breath and leaned against the car._

"_Ah-HA!" She yelled, jumping in front of me and starting to spray at me. I held the empty bucket in front of me, so all that happened was the water reflected out of the bucket and onto the ground, successfully making the driveway wetter than it was ever originally. She was getting annoyed, and I stood up, keeping the bucket in front of me as best as I could. Obviously, I still got drenched with water; it just wasn't as much as it was going to be, which was at least something. But getting drenched was okay, since I was wearing a swimsuit under my clothes. It's just that I didn't want to get my clothes that were over it wet originally anyways. _

_But you know what? Screw that. _

_Suddenly, the water stopped, and I stood behind the car, opposite of Nudge, panting and laughing at the same time. Although I didn't _want_ that to happen to me, nor did I plan it to, it was still fun and I enjoyed joking around with her._

"_Oh, God," I said, leaning against the still-soapy car, completely disregarding the fact that I was now covered in bubbles along with everything else. "Nice job," I said, "not too shabby, young one. I taught you well."_

_She raised an eyebrow at me, leaning all her weight on one hip and setting her hand on that hip. "Excuse me, dearest best friend, but I am only a year younger than you. That is not actually that much of an age difference, if you don't mind, and I will be fourteen soon anyways, so shush your mouth."_

_And we were back to the Sassy Nudge._

_I chuckled at her attitude, looking up the sky, where a storm cloud seemed to be rolling in. "Yes, yes," I muttered, "I taught you well." _

"_That storm cloud is definitely new," she told me, "it wasn't here for sure when we first came out—oh gosh, I hope it doesn't rain on us! That would suck a bit. I guess we should start to go inside instead of just standing out here, wet. Though your mom won't really appreciate us going inside, dripping, so I guess we should dry off too! Though that takes a bit of time."_

_I nodded; cupping a hand over my eyes and looking up at the storm cloud, squinting. It looked very ominous and forbidding. "Yeah, but if it rains, that means we won't have to wash the car off ourselves. The rain will do that for us. And I really don't feel like washing the car off."_

_She nodded. "Well, I guess that's true, but I really don't want to be out here when it does, so I assume we should really be going inside soon!" She turned around, grabbing one of the towels we'd set out, but then faltered. She looked at me again, this time with a confused expression—also one of mild irritation. "You don't want to wash the car off—which was what we were supposed to be doing originally anyways—but you want to get me entirely soaked to the bone?"_

_I smirked while she glared, but then returned my attention to the sky._

"_Well, come on, Max!" She called, "Don't just stand there looking at it; help me bring stuff inside also! I am not going to do this all by my own, you know."_

_I nodded reluctantly, but still looked at it for a couple more seconds. Then I turned around hesitantly and grabbed the other towel, green instead of white like Nudge's. She bent over, and wrung her wet and curly mess of a mane out with her hands like a rag. Then she started to flip her hair over and over again, successfully getting rid of excess water that she hadn't gotten out before when being wrung out. I stood a couple feet away, trying not to get flipped with her thick hair, though I wasn't successfully some of the time._

_We dried ourselves off, and brought the supplies—the buckets, sponges, soap, the containers that held the liquid soap—inside, as well as putting the hose away._

"_Uh, why don't we check on Fang, see how he's doing?" I asked her after setting down the supplies. She nodded, then said, gesturing to my outfit, "Are we really gonna go over there completely _soaked, _though? I mean, I know we're close with their family, but I doubt they'd want us dripping car-wash-water all over their nice carpet, not the mention the fact that, you know, we're still in our swimsuits and stuff. Not to mention, I'm kind of hungry—scratch that, I'm really hungry. Incredibly. Can we go have lunch now?"_

_I sighed, but agreed with her. Going over wet wouldn't work (alliteration) and I was kind of hungry too. But I'm pretty much always up for food anyways, so that didn't matter._

_We ate lunch together, chattering quietly and enjoying each other's company for once, and then went to change quickly. I just threw on a t-shirt and shorts, paired with flip-flops, and for once, Nudge didn't have anything super special or cute on. It was just normal. _

_Hmm. Normality._

_How I missed that._

_Then we headed to our best friends' house, alerting my mother that we were so she wouldn't flip out._

"_I bet you're surprised to see _us_, here, aren't ya?" I commented jokingly, closing the Walker's front door behind Nudge and I. Fang looked up from their couch, eyes blood shot, and the corners of his lips came up in a half-grin at the sight of us. He replied, somewhat hoarsely, "Entirely," and turned the TV off. _

_Nudge skipped over to him perkily (not really skipped, but she didn't really walk either, so I'm calling it skipping) and chirped, "Hey Fang! We just got finished washing Max's mom's car, and Max and I kind of had a water war in which we both got pretty much soaked to the bone and did nothing productive once so ever to clean the car. And then she—Max, obviously—suggested that we come over here to see how you're doing since, you know, you don't normally get sick and being sick, particularly in the summer, really, _really_ sucks a lot. And we just wanted to see you."_

_He half-smiled again, and scratched the back of his head. "Uh, thanks, I guess. Sounds interesting."_

"_Oh, it was," I said, coming up next to Nudge and sitting on the armrest. "Nudge thought it would be a fantastic idea to dump a bucket of soapy water on my head." I glared at said girl half-heartedly. _

_She grinned, not seeming to regret it at all, and crossed her arms over her chest with an attitude that only Nudge could have. "Hey, you're the one who sprayed me with the hose in the first place! To be honest, I would've never done that if you hadn't forced me to. It was merely self defense-slash-revenge. We were even, until you had to retaliate."_

_I rolled my eyes good-naturedly at her, saying, "_Suuuure_, Nudgey-kins. Whatever floats your boat." _

_Then I turned to Fang again. "Anyway, we stopped attempting to wash the car and spray each other because there's this huge, ominous, dark cloud that looks quite foreboding of rain out there, and I figured we didn't want to get rained on that badly, regardless of how soaked we were anyways. I assume it'll probs be storming soon." He nodded, and we talked for a couple of minutes before hearing the first rumble of thunder, somewhere off in the distant. I gave him a look like, "told you so" and he gave me one like, "I was never apposing in the first place anyway". _

_And the rest of the day was spent with the three of us watching scary movies in the dark, with popcorn in our laps and lighting and thunder playing to add to the effect._

* * *

><p><em>Later that week, once Fang had gotten better and was no longer sick, I snuck in through his window at night.<em>

_I know what you're thinking. _

_Haha, so funny._

_Not._

_Our relationship was _not_ like that—I didn't like Fang like that, and I was pretty sure the feeling was mutual. He was my bro, nothing more. At time, I couldn't stress that enough, what with people constantly assuming we were in a romantic relationship._

_Anyways, now that that's cleared up, let me continue the story._

"_Fang, get yo' lazy butt up before I kick it out the window!" I whispered-yelled in his ear. He jumped slightly, almost falling off the bed. _

_He blinked up at me, confused. "Max?" he said in disbelief, his voice hoarse and raspy, having just woken up. It was about midnight—probably later—and he usually went to bed _waaaaay_ later than that, so I was pretty confused as to why he wasn't awake, the same way he was confused as to why I was waking him up in the middle of the night. Eh, he probably just had a long day or something._

"_No, it's the Easter Bunny," I told him sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "Why are you asleep?"_

"_Some people need energy that isn't from coffee," he muttered, still somewhat asleep. _

"_Fine, fine." Putting my hands up in a "I surrender" sort of gesture, I backed away from his bed, and said, "I'll leave you be." _

_And then he went back to sleep._

_In case you wanted to know: I lied._

_But he should've known that._

"_GET UP!" I whispered/yelled once more, except this time, I pushed him off the bed. He went tumbling off, bringing the sheets with him, and there was a dull thud from his hitting the floor. There was an "Oof!" which was followed by an irritated groan. _

_Standing over him with an innocent smirk on my face that was probably wasted in the dark, my arms behind my back, I said, "Oh, by the way: I was lying."_

_If you wanted to know: Fang's glares were actually pretty intimidating. Too bad it was too dark in the room for me to really see it enough to get intimidated in the first place._

"_Now, come on!" I rushed him, pulling him roughly to his feet. My cheeks heated up slightly when I noticed he was only in his boxers._

"_Geez, woman, is it your time of the month or something…?" he mumbled, rubbing his head and wincing. _

_I glowered at him. "_What_ did you just say?"_

"_Did I say that out loud?" he mused quietly, since I guess he'd realized everyone else was sleeping. I nodded and gave him a sarcastic smile, then punched him in the chest. _

"_Since you asked: No, and never, _ever_ ask a girl that. _Ever_. Especially me. Now, get dressed!" I ordered, pointing at his dresser. He rolled his eyes—a gesture I could hardly see in the dark—but obliged. _

"_Why am I getting dressed at—" he checked his phone that was sitting on top of the dresser, plugged in to charge—"twelve-thirty-three AM during the summer, when the rest of my family is asleep?" he asked, hushed, after slipping on his shirt and pants._

"_Because we're sneaking out, now come on." Without waiting for a reply, I began to crawl out through the window again. _

"_Uh, shoes," he said, gesturing to his bare feet. I rolled my eyes for what seemed to be the fourth time in ten minutes. "God, you take longer to get dressed than I do!"_

"…_Do not…"_

_Another roll of my eyes (five times now) and a sigh, before I finally told him, jutting my hip out and putting a hand on it, "If you don't want to, I can just get someone else to come with me…like…Matthew?" I batted my eyes innocently, even though I knew it was somewhat lost in the dark room. Matthew was a boy that lived four houses down, and I was kind-of friends with him…not enough to crawl in his window in the middle of the night to sneak out, though. I would never even attempt to get Matthew to come with me for this—it would be incredibly awkward. But I knew that Fang really didn't like Matthew, and this would make him at least a little bit annoyed. _

_I was right—though that wasn't much of a shocker if you think about it. His voice held a slight edge of steel when he grumbled, "Fine, whatever," and then began putting shoes on. _

"_Grab the flashlight on your desk, also," I called as I began crawling out the window once more. He did as I said, not questioning it._

_Once he was ready, we left the house through his window, not wanting to risk going out through the hallway in fear that it'd wake up his parents, who were sleeping as most parents do at midnight, and his siblings, even though they were probably still awake. Well…at least Iggy was probably still awake. _

_Speaking of, I had actually debated inviting Iggy to our little "outing" but decided against it. Even though Lord knows how close I was to him—as much as Fang—I felt like…I didn't know. I just…wanted something that could be only us. Although it must seem like we did everything together—which was half-true—there was still always other people. It was never only us alone for something sort of memorable…_

…_But then again, I guess that's unfair to the light moments, the normal moments; the little things were important. To be honest, now that I think about it, there are a lot of little things that I remember in great detail, even more so than the grand things. _

_But never mind that. That would be getting ahead of myself._

_The sky was clear and the moon shone bright. We walked along the sidewalk in silence, a flashlight in my hand, just letting nature's music play without interruption. Well, without interruption until he said in a quiet tone, "Explain to me why you kidnapped me?"_

_Glaring at him even though it was almost useless in the dark, I said, "It was not kidnapping since you went willingly."_

_A roll of the eyes was his reply. But after a moment of us walking in silence, he said, "But…seriously…why?"_

"_Uh," I started, shining the flashlight up at the sky, "well, because…why not?"_

_I sensed him turning to look at me. "You don't have a real reason?"_

_A grin formed on my lips, aimed at him. "That depends on your definition of 'real'. If it means something sensible, then, no, I guess, there was no reason. But…well, I thought it'd be…fun." _

"_Ahuh," he said, half-thoughtfully and half-annoyed. I glared at him again, but this time I was pretty sure he could feel me doing it, even with the lack of light. _

_We kept walking, and sooner or later, we ended up at the park. It was very obviously empty, along with quiet and little bit eerie. But it was also peaceful and calm and seemed a little bit like a movie. It was strange, really. Like going to your school when it's nighttime and the teachers aren't there and it seems empty. Foreign and weird and…not what you're used to, I guess. It's also really cool, though._

"_What are we supposed to do?" he asked, crossing his arms. _

_I smirked mischievously. "Just wait. You'll see."_

_No reply, but he went along with me. He seemed to be irritated for being woken up just to go run around the neighborhood at night with me so we could do stupid things that we could very well do in the daylight. But that would change._

_And I was right._


End file.
